Eighth News Update
RUTH RIKOWSKI
This News Update focuses on two other people that I have connected with, further information about ISC, and a couple of news items. In regard to the people ‘In Focus’, Anders Ericson and Helen Raduntz and are now both Advisory Members of the Editorial Board of ISC, at my invitation (at a time when ISC was very much in need of more people, resources and commitment). I also commissioned Helen to write a book for Chandos Publishing, Oxford.
1. Focus on Anders Ericson
Anders Ericson, a freelance journalist, consultant and a librarian from Norway, read my article The 'corporate takeover of libraries' way back in 2001, and following on from this, he contacted me and came over from Norway to interview me on the topic. He also interviewed John Pateman about the work that he had been doing on social exclusion. Anders subsequently wrote an article about my work, which was entitled: ’Privatisering bit for bit’ and was published in Bok og bibliotek (BOB), 2002, Vol. 69, No. 7, pp.18-19 (in Norwegian only).
I have kept in communication with Anders ever since then. In particular, he wrote the Foreword for my book Globalisation, Information and Libraries: the implications of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS Agreements, Chandos Publishing: Oxford, 2005 (p. xiii-xiv). In the Foreword he refers, once again, to my Corporate takeover of libraries article, making the point that it was the exact article that he had been searching for, for quite some time! So, pleased that I was able to assist! He also said that, in his view, what my work demonstrates is that:
“…private companies who run library services will give priority to the parts that make not only profit, but the most profit.” (p. xiv)
It is this type of fact that we need to keep clearly to the foremost of our minds, I think, when we ponder what the future holds for our libraries, and indeed, for our public services in general. Local councils are often accused of being wasteful and inefficient, and this is then sometimes given as an argument for privatisation. As I have said many times, I am not saying that services being run by local councils are necessarily all wonderful (far from it). Indeed, sometimes (in the short term in particular) it is quite possible that if private companies were to move in, that they could run the service more efficiently. The important point though is that private companies must make a profit – this is their raison d’etre, and this must be put above the wants and needs of the people in the local community. Thus, whilst local authorities might not run a good and efficient service (whatever it is that we mean by ‘efficient’ – but that gets us into another whole debate altogether), but at least it is possible for them to do this, as their main goal can be to satisfy the wants and needs of the people in the local community, if they should wish to do so.
Frode Bakken, the President of the Norwegian Library Association, has also been very actively involved in the topic of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) (about the liberalisation of trade in services) and libraries. He also wrote one of the very first articles about the GATS and libraries (see details below). Furthermore, he also invited me to be an Observer of the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA) WTO Working Group, which I was a member of for a couple of years. For further information about EBLIDA, see: http://www.eblida.org/. Anders also interviewed Frode about free trade for libraries, and this was published in Information for Social Change (see details below).
EBLIDA and SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) organised a conference at the Moller Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge on ‘Trading in Knowledge: the World Trade Organisation and Libraries’, on 2nd-3rd March 2005,
(see http://www.sconul.ac.uk/events/WTOConference/wtoprogramme).
Anders, Mikael Böök (also on ISC EB) and myself all attended this conference. Speakers at the conference included George Monbiot, columnist of The Guardian; Dale Honeck, education representative at the WTO; Professor Susan Robertson, University of Bristol; Paul Whitney, City Librarian, Vancouver and myself. I spoke on the topic of ‘Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Libraries’. Anders wrote a report on it (in Norwegian) and Toby Bainton, secretary of SCONUL, also wrote a report on it (see references below).
In the past, Anders has been the Chief Librarian of a small public library and was a librarian at two university colleges, in pedagogy and engineering. He was also a consultant at the Norwegian State Directorate for Public Libraries in Oslo for 17 years.
Anders work has also included being the editor of the news column of the web site of the Norwegian Library Association
RUTH RIKOWSKI
This News Update focuses on two other people that I have connected with, further information about ISC, and a couple of news items. In regard to the people ‘In Focus’, Anders Ericson and Helen Raduntz and are now both Advisory Members of the Editorial Board of ISC, at my invitation (at a time when ISC was very much in need of more people, resources and commitment). I also commissioned Helen to write a book for Chandos Publishing, Oxford.
1. Focus on Anders Ericson
Anders Ericson, a freelance journalist, consultant and a librarian from Norway, read my article The 'corporate takeover of libraries' way back in 2001, and following on from this, he contacted me and came over from Norway to interview me on the topic. He also interviewed John Pateman about the work that he had been doing on social exclusion. Anders subsequently wrote an article about my work, which was entitled: ’Privatisering bit for bit’ and was published in Bok og bibliotek (BOB), 2002, Vol. 69, No. 7, pp.18-19 (in Norwegian only).
I have kept in communication with Anders ever since then. In particular, he wrote the Foreword for my book Globalisation, Information and Libraries: the implications of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS Agreements, Chandos Publishing: Oxford, 2005 (p. xiii-xiv). In the Foreword he refers, once again, to my Corporate takeover of libraries article, making the point that it was the exact article that he had been searching for, for quite some time! So, pleased that I was able to assist! He also said that, in his view, what my work demonstrates is that:
“…private companies who run library services will give priority to the parts that make not only profit, but the most profit.” (p. xiv)
It is this type of fact that we need to keep clearly to the foremost of our minds, I think, when we ponder what the future holds for our libraries, and indeed, for our public services in general. Local councils are often accused of being wasteful and inefficient, and this is then sometimes given as an argument for privatisation. As I have said many times, I am not saying that services being run by local councils are necessarily all wonderful (far from it). Indeed, sometimes (in the short term in particular) it is quite possible that if private companies were to move in, that they could run the service more efficiently. The important point though is that private companies must make a profit – this is their raison d’etre, and this must be put above the wants and needs of the people in the local community. Thus, whilst local authorities might not run a good and efficient service (whatever it is that we mean by ‘efficient’ – but that gets us into another whole debate altogether), but at least it is possible for them to do this, as their main goal can be to satisfy the wants and needs of the people in the local community, if they should wish to do so.
Frode Bakken, the President of the Norwegian Library Association, has also been very actively involved in the topic of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) (about the liberalisation of trade in services) and libraries. He also wrote one of the very first articles about the GATS and libraries (see details below). Furthermore, he also invited me to be an Observer of the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA) WTO Working Group, which I was a member of for a couple of years. For further information about EBLIDA, see: http://www.eblida.org/. Anders also interviewed Frode about free trade for libraries, and this was published in Information for Social Change (see details below).
EBLIDA and SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) organised a conference at the Moller Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge on ‘Trading in Knowledge: the World Trade Organisation and Libraries’, on 2nd-3rd March 2005,
(see http://www.sconul.ac.uk/events/WTOConference/wtoprogramme).
Anders, Mikael Böök (also on ISC EB) and myself all attended this conference. Speakers at the conference included George Monbiot, columnist of The Guardian; Dale Honeck, education representative at the WTO; Professor Susan Robertson, University of Bristol; Paul Whitney, City Librarian, Vancouver and myself. I spoke on the topic of ‘Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Libraries’. Anders wrote a report on it (in Norwegian) and Toby Bainton, secretary of SCONUL, also wrote a report on it (see references below).
In the past, Anders has been the Chief Librarian of a small public library and was a librarian at two university colleges, in pedagogy and engineering. He was also a consultant at the Norwegian State Directorate for Public Libraries in Oslo for 17 years.
Anders work has also included being the editor of the news column of the web site of the Norwegian Library Association
http://www.norskbibliotekforening.no/index.php?c=234&kat=About+us.
Anders initial interest in library studies (back in 1973) stemmed from what he describes as the ‘democratic potential of public libraries’, and he has been involved with library and democracy issues ever since then. He wrote a book on ‘the Independent Public Library’ in 2001; in Norwegian see http://wgate.bibsys.no/gate1/SHOW?objd=012275174&lang=N.There is a shorter version of his book in English in Information for Social Change, Winter 2003 (see details below).
N.B. The last three paragraphs included in this profile have been adapted from information in the Profiles section of the ISC website (Ander’s profile) – see: http://libr.org/isc/profile.html.
Refs:
Bainton, Toby (2005) Report on ‘Trading in Knowledge: the WTO and Libraries’ conference held on 2-3 March 2005, Moller Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Organised by EBLIDA/SCONUL.
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:S6hmhgwXDQIJ:www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/newsletter/34/20.rtf+trading+in+libraries+and+eblida+and+sconul+and+toby+bainton&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8)
Bakken, Frode (2000) WTO and libraries - an introduction, Library of Buskerud, Buskerud, Norway, a paper presented at the 66th IFLA Council and General Conference, Jerusalem, Israel, 13-18 August, available at: http://66.102.9.104/custom?q=cache:jK7VCq105PYJ:www.ifla.org/IV/ifla66/papers/171-140e.htm+bakken+and+gats+and+libraries&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&ie=UTF-8
Ericson, Anders (2002) Privatisering bit for bit, Bok og bibliotek (BOB), Vol. 69, No. 7, pp.18-19. In Norwegian only
Ericson, Anders (2003a) Information Services and the Independent Public Library’, Information for Social Change, Winter 2003, Issue 18. See:
Anders initial interest in library studies (back in 1973) stemmed from what he describes as the ‘democratic potential of public libraries’, and he has been involved with library and democracy issues ever since then. He wrote a book on ‘the Independent Public Library’ in 2001; in Norwegian see http://wgate.bibsys.no/gate1/SHOW?objd=012275174&lang=N.There is a shorter version of his book in English in Information for Social Change, Winter 2003 (see details below).
N.B. The last three paragraphs included in this profile have been adapted from information in the Profiles section of the ISC website (Ander’s profile) – see: http://libr.org/isc/profile.html.
Refs:
Bainton, Toby (2005) Report on ‘Trading in Knowledge: the WTO and Libraries’ conference held on 2-3 March 2005, Moller Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Organised by EBLIDA/SCONUL.
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:S6hmhgwXDQIJ:www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/newsletter/34/20.rtf+trading+in+libraries+and+eblida+and+sconul+and+toby+bainton&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8)
Bakken, Frode (2000) WTO and libraries - an introduction, Library of Buskerud, Buskerud, Norway, a paper presented at the 66th IFLA Council and General Conference, Jerusalem, Israel, 13-18 August, available at: http://66.102.9.104/custom?q=cache:jK7VCq105PYJ:www.ifla.org/IV/ifla66/papers/171-140e.htm+bakken+and+gats+and+libraries&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&ie=UTF-8
Ericson, Anders (2002) Privatisering bit for bit, Bok og bibliotek (BOB), Vol. 69, No. 7, pp.18-19. In Norwegian only
Ericson, Anders (2003a) Information Services and the Independent Public Library’, Information for Social Change, Winter 2003, Issue 18. See:
http://libr.org/isc/articles/18-Ericson-1.html
Ericon, Anders (2003b) Free Trade with Library Services? – No “all clear” regarding GATS. Anders Ericson interviews Frode Bakken, President of the Norwegian Library Association, Information for Social Change, Summer, Issue 17, 2003. See: http://www.libr.org/isc/articles/17-Ericson-Bakken.html. Originally printed in Norwegian in the journal Bok og bibliotek No. 1, 2003.
Ericson, Anders (2005) Monbiot inspirerte bibliotekfolk i Cambridge – Report of a Conference held on 2-3 March 2005, Moller Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge EBLIDA/SCONUL Conference, ‘Trading in Knowledge?: The WTO and Libraries’ by Anders Ericson (In Norwegian – in Norwegian Library Association Journal). See: http://www.norskbibliotekforening.no/article.php?id=903
Rikowski, Ruth (2001) The corporate takeover of libraries, Information for Social Change, Winter, Issue 14
http://libr.org/isc/articles/14-Ruth_Rikowski.html
2. Focus on Helen Raduntz
Dr. Helen Raduntz is currently Adjunct Research Fellow with the Centre of Research in Education, Equity and Work, University of South Australia, and is primarily engaged in research into the privatisation of intellectual property and the work of information professionals due to be published by Chandos Publishing, Oxford, in the near future (late 2007/early 2008). The book is entitled: Intellectual Property and the work of Information Professionals. See:
http://www.chandospublishing.com/catalogue/record_detail.php?recordID=70
Educated at a Catholic college Helen began her working career as a shorthand typist back in the 1950s. A period followed in the turbulent 1960s in pursuit of raising a family, an occupation which tended to insulate many of her generation from the social issues and conflicts raging beyond the sphere of domesticity. She remembers reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring which proved to be a defining moment in setting her on the path towards developing a critical consciousness and searching in order to effect real transformative change for the root causes of so much social turmoil and environmental devastation.
In the mid 1970s just as the doors towards acquiring a free tertiary education in Australia were beginning to close Helen says she was accepted as a mature age entrant into the relatively new four-year Bachelor of Education course at the South Australian College of Advanced Education, which in the 1990s was to become the University of South Australia.
Populated mostly by what are now derogatorily referred to as ‘lefties’ the BEd course was broad ranging, stimulating and dominated by a focus among other things on teachers’ work, social justice, critical theory and action research. An influential figure in the shaping of Helen’s academic career was, and still remains, Dr. Basil Moore, who at the time had recently been summarily exiled from South Africa for his anti-apartheid activism.
While Helen maintained contact with the university following graduation, the 1980s were memorable for what she learned first hand in a Catholic secondary school setting about the dynamics of teaching and the disjunction in education generally between theory and practice.
Following the restructuring of the tertiary sector in Australia which led to the emergence of the University of South Australia Helen was among the first to be accepted into the new masters and then doctoral research programs within the School of Education. Initially, the focus of her doctoral research project was intended to be a critical analysis of religious education in Catholic schools, but as her studies progressed she became aware that a critical approach with transformative change in mind, in other words a Marxian critique, was not only little understood but also of all Marx’s body of work its most undeveloped aspect. As a consequence much that passes for critique even among so-called Marxists, in Helen’s view, misses the mark as far as real qualitative change is concerned. Dr. Glenn Rikowski was one of the external examiners for her PhD.
The problem began to dominate her doctoral studies and has continued to be a major, if underlying, focus of her subsequent research projects. Learning that each particular subject analysis requires developing a Marxian critique specifically for it, as Marx so brilliantly developed for capital, has been a challenging enterprise. Proof as to whether she has been successful in developing a Marxian critique for her study of the intellectual property issue and the work of information professionals makes her Chandos book a very exciting project for her.
Helen’s career in general has involved working in industry and secondary education, education union activism, and academic teaching and research. Subsequent to her doctoral research she has continued her interests in the development of a Marxian critique for contemporary capitalism, in the continuing impact of marketisation on education and education for social change, and in mounting a critique on the subject of intellectual property and the work of information professionals.
Refs
Raduntz, Helen (2005a) ‘The Marketisation of Education within the Global Capitalist Economy’, in Apple, Michael W, Jane Kenway, Michael Singh, eds. Globalising Public Education: Policies, Pedagogy & Politics, Peter Lang USA.
Raduntz, Helen (2005b), ‘Constructing a Critical Democratic Education: Is it possible? A critical review essay of Philosophical Scaffolding for the Construction of Critical Democratic Education, By Richard A. Brosio, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 2000, 365 pages ISBN 0-8204-3939-8, in Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies Volume 3, Number 1 (March).
Raduntz, Helen (2006a) Education for Social Change or for Capital Crisis Resolution, Information for Social Change Journal No. 23, Summer. Accessed http://www.libr.org/isc 11/10/06.
Raduntz, Helen (2006b) Trends towards the privatisation of Intellectual Property: A Marxian progress report for Educators and Education Researchers (2006) ® Refereed paper RAD06109 presented at the Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Adelaide, South Australia, 26-30 November
Raduntz, Helen (2006c) Towards a Critical Democratic Pedagogy: a Marxian Critique (2006c) ® Refereed paper RAD06110 presented at the Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Adelaide, South Australia, 26-30 November
Ericon, Anders (2003b) Free Trade with Library Services? – No “all clear” regarding GATS. Anders Ericson interviews Frode Bakken, President of the Norwegian Library Association, Information for Social Change, Summer, Issue 17, 2003. See: http://www.libr.org/isc/articles/17-Ericson-Bakken.html. Originally printed in Norwegian in the journal Bok og bibliotek No. 1, 2003.
Ericson, Anders (2005) Monbiot inspirerte bibliotekfolk i Cambridge – Report of a Conference held on 2-3 March 2005, Moller Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge EBLIDA/SCONUL Conference, ‘Trading in Knowledge?: The WTO and Libraries’ by Anders Ericson (In Norwegian – in Norwegian Library Association Journal). See: http://www.norskbibliotekforening.no/article.php?id=903
Rikowski, Ruth (2001) The corporate takeover of libraries, Information for Social Change, Winter, Issue 14
http://libr.org/isc/articles/14-Ruth_Rikowski.html
2. Focus on Helen Raduntz
Dr. Helen Raduntz is currently Adjunct Research Fellow with the Centre of Research in Education, Equity and Work, University of South Australia, and is primarily engaged in research into the privatisation of intellectual property and the work of information professionals due to be published by Chandos Publishing, Oxford, in the near future (late 2007/early 2008). The book is entitled: Intellectual Property and the work of Information Professionals. See:
http://www.chandospublishing.com/catalogue/record_detail.php?recordID=70
Educated at a Catholic college Helen began her working career as a shorthand typist back in the 1950s. A period followed in the turbulent 1960s in pursuit of raising a family, an occupation which tended to insulate many of her generation from the social issues and conflicts raging beyond the sphere of domesticity. She remembers reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring which proved to be a defining moment in setting her on the path towards developing a critical consciousness and searching in order to effect real transformative change for the root causes of so much social turmoil and environmental devastation.
In the mid 1970s just as the doors towards acquiring a free tertiary education in Australia were beginning to close Helen says she was accepted as a mature age entrant into the relatively new four-year Bachelor of Education course at the South Australian College of Advanced Education, which in the 1990s was to become the University of South Australia.
Populated mostly by what are now derogatorily referred to as ‘lefties’ the BEd course was broad ranging, stimulating and dominated by a focus among other things on teachers’ work, social justice, critical theory and action research. An influential figure in the shaping of Helen’s academic career was, and still remains, Dr. Basil Moore, who at the time had recently been summarily exiled from South Africa for his anti-apartheid activism.
While Helen maintained contact with the university following graduation, the 1980s were memorable for what she learned first hand in a Catholic secondary school setting about the dynamics of teaching and the disjunction in education generally between theory and practice.
Following the restructuring of the tertiary sector in Australia which led to the emergence of the University of South Australia Helen was among the first to be accepted into the new masters and then doctoral research programs within the School of Education. Initially, the focus of her doctoral research project was intended to be a critical analysis of religious education in Catholic schools, but as her studies progressed she became aware that a critical approach with transformative change in mind, in other words a Marxian critique, was not only little understood but also of all Marx’s body of work its most undeveloped aspect. As a consequence much that passes for critique even among so-called Marxists, in Helen’s view, misses the mark as far as real qualitative change is concerned. Dr. Glenn Rikowski was one of the external examiners for her PhD.
The problem began to dominate her doctoral studies and has continued to be a major, if underlying, focus of her subsequent research projects. Learning that each particular subject analysis requires developing a Marxian critique specifically for it, as Marx so brilliantly developed for capital, has been a challenging enterprise. Proof as to whether she has been successful in developing a Marxian critique for her study of the intellectual property issue and the work of information professionals makes her Chandos book a very exciting project for her.
Helen’s career in general has involved working in industry and secondary education, education union activism, and academic teaching and research. Subsequent to her doctoral research she has continued her interests in the development of a Marxian critique for contemporary capitalism, in the continuing impact of marketisation on education and education for social change, and in mounting a critique on the subject of intellectual property and the work of information professionals.
Refs
Raduntz, Helen (2005a) ‘The Marketisation of Education within the Global Capitalist Economy’, in Apple, Michael W, Jane Kenway, Michael Singh, eds. Globalising Public Education: Policies, Pedagogy & Politics, Peter Lang USA.
Raduntz, Helen (2005b), ‘Constructing a Critical Democratic Education: Is it possible? A critical review essay of Philosophical Scaffolding for the Construction of Critical Democratic Education, By Richard A. Brosio, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 2000, 365 pages ISBN 0-8204-3939-8, in Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies Volume 3, Number 1 (March).
Raduntz, Helen (2006a) Education for Social Change or for Capital Crisis Resolution, Information for Social Change Journal No. 23, Summer. Accessed http://www.libr.org/isc 11/10/06.
Raduntz, Helen (2006b) Trends towards the privatisation of Intellectual Property: A Marxian progress report for Educators and Education Researchers (2006) ® Refereed paper RAD06109 presented at the Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Adelaide, South Australia, 26-30 November
Raduntz, Helen (2006c) Towards a Critical Democratic Pedagogy: a Marxian Critique (2006c) ® Refereed paper RAD06110 presented at the Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Adelaide, South Australia, 26-30 November
3. More information on Information for Social Change
I have been referring to Information for Social Change (ISC) quite a lot in my News Updates in one way or another, so I think it is about time that I said some more about it! I first joined ISC in late 2000, after having started to get my writing published - which began within the Library and Information profession (writing my first article for Managing Information). But then, I felt that it was time to move on, and so I decided not to actually continue with my paid work within the profession. Instead, I got some teaching in Business Schools in Universities (given that many young people today are enthusiastic about getting business degrees!). I also obtained an MA by Research. Basically, I moved into academia. Meanwhile, my political and theoretical work continued and developed, drawing very much on my social science background. My dissertation, in particular, was a Marxist analysis of Knowledge Management (KM). It focused on the creation of knowledge from intellectual labour in the knowledge revolution, and how and why KM is so crucial for the successful extraction of value from intellectual labour. This process also means that labour continues to be exploited. Thus, in this way, I was able to bring many different fields together that I was interested in.
Yet, I did not want to completely lose touch with the library and information profession. Where would we be without our libraries? So, I looked around for some like-minded people, and the answer seemed to me to be to join ISC – which is what I did!
I connected, in particular with John Pateman and Shiraz Durrani (Head and Deputy Head respectively of London Borough of Merton Libraries at the time). John read Glenn Rikowski’s book on Seattle (see reference below) and liked it very much. Immediately following on from this he then asked me if I would like to edit a special issue of ISC, on the theme of Globalisation and Information (John was the Chief Editor of ISC at the time). I agreed, put a lot of work into it and it was published in Winter 2001, Issue 14 (see reference below). So, that was how it all took off. Then, for 2 years, from 2004-06, I was the co-editor of ISC, with John Pateman. I then attracted various other people to ISC and it began to rapidly grow and develop. ISC now has 13 members on the Editorial Board, and ISC EB now works as a collective, with different people editing individual issues on particular themes. ISC was formed in 1994, and it celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2004. ISC resides within Rory Litwin’s web space, ‘Libr.org’, along with a variety of other progressive library and information groups. ‘Libr.org’ has been ‘Supporting Progressive Librarians Since 1998’ (see http://libr.org/). Rory is also now on ISC EB.
Refs
Rikowski, Glenn (2001) The Battle in Seattle: its significance for education, Tufnell Press: London. See: http://www.tpress.free-online.co.uk/seattle.html
Rikowski, Ruth (Editor) (2002) Globalisation and Information, Information for Social Change, Winter, Issue 14. See: http://libr.org/isc/issues/ISC%2014%20Final%20Version.pdf
Further information about ISC (taken from ISC website)
“Information for Social Change is an activist organisation that examines issues of censorship, freedom and ethics amongst library and information workers. It is committed to promoting alternatives to the dominant paradigms of library and information work and publishes its own journal, Information for Social Change (freely available online at http://www.libr.org/isc).
The ways by which information is controlled and mediated has a serious influence on the ways people think, how they communicate, what they believe is the "real world", what the limits of the permissible are. This applies equally to information that comes through the channels of the mass media, through our bookshops or through our libraries.
Of course, free and equal access to information is a myth throughout the world, although different situations pertain in different countries. Control is more explicit and cruder in some places, more "sophisticated" and more invisible elsewhere (for example in Britain). One of the aims of Information for Social Change is to document these situations.
But we want to go further than that, documenting also the alternatives to this control, the radical and progressive channels by which truly unfettered, unmediated ideas may circulate. And further still: to encourage information workers to come together, to share ideas, to foster these alternatives - whether we are publishers, librarians, booksellers, communication workers or distributors. Whoever you are, if you are in sympathy with us, join us.
Putting Ideas Into Action
i) To address issues of freedom of information and censorship as they affect library and information work.
ii) To promote alternatives to mainstream library and information provision.
iii) To provide a forum for the exchange of radical views on library and information issues.
iv) To debate ethics and freedom within the library and information professions.
v) To challenge the dominant paradigms of library and information work.
We publish a journal Information for Social Change twice a year.
We also organise seminars and conferences, sometimes in associations with other progressive organisations such as LINK and the Black Radical and Third World Book Fair. The Better Read than Dead conferences, for example looked at non-capitalist library provisions in Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea and China. The conference proceeding were subsequently published.
Information for Social Change is an Organisation in Liaison with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals – see http://www.cilip.org.uk/default.cilip
Also see our Proposal for a Partnership Agreement between Information for Social Change and UNISON: http://libr.org/isc/unison.html
See: http://www.libr.org/isc “
This section ‘Further information about ISC’ has been taken from the ISC website - see: http://libr.org/isc/who.html.
4. Fulbright Senior Specialists Award for Dr Mengxiong Liu, at San Jose State University
One of the contributors to the ‘Digital Libraries’ issue that I am editing with Isaac Hunter Dunlap for Policy Futures in Education (http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/), recently proudly informed me that she has received a Fulbright Senior Specialists Award.
The award has been given to Dr. Mengxiong Liu, Engineering Librarian and Professor of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University. The Fulbright Senior Specialists project is in Uruguay at Latin American Center for Human Economy (CLAEH) and the British Schools for the month of November 2007, according to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
The press release about this is being circulated by Helen Stevens,
Director of International Programs and Services, San Jose State University. (email: Helen.Stevens@sjsu.edu, tel. 408-924-5916)
PRESS RELEASE – FULBRIGHT SENIOR SPECIALISTS AWARD FOR
Dr. MENGXIONG LIU
“Dr. Liu will advise, recommend and evaluate the design and structure of the postgraduate degree in management of digital resources at CLAEH, and the information literacy program at the British Schools. She will also give seminars on topics focusing on digital libraries and information literacy to an audience of postgraduate students, librarians, information technology specialists, and educators at the secondary and tertiary level within the community.
Dr. Mengxiong Liu is one of over 400 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad this year through the Fulbright Senior Specialists Program. The Fulbright Senior Specialists Program, created in 2000 to complement the traditional Fulbright Scholar Program, provides short-term academic opportunities (two to six weeks) to prominent U.S. faculty and professionals to support curricular and faculty development and institutional planning at post secondary, academic institutions around the world.
The Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over its 60 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have taught, studied or conducted research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States. Over 285,000 emerging leaders in their professional fields have received Fulbright awards, including individuals who later became heads of government, Nobel Prize winners, and leaders in education, business, journalism, the arts and other fields.
Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement. Among thousands of prominent Fulbright Scholar alumni are Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist; Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet; and Craig Barrett, Chairman of the Board of Intel Corporation. Distinguished Fulbright Senior Specialist participants include Mahmoud Ayoub, Professor of Religion at Temple University, Heidi Hartmann, President and CEO, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Percy R. Luney, Jr. Dean and Professor, College of Law, Florida A&M University and Emily Vargas-Barone, Founder and Executive Director of the RISE Institute.”
For further information about the Fulbright Senior Specialists Program,
contact FULSPEC@cies.iie.org or consult http://www.cies.org/.
5. Denise Nicholson’s Information Service
Denise Nicholson, the Copyright Services Librarian at the University of Witwatersrand library in South Africa offers a free information services. This covers topics such as copyright and other intellectual property matters; World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) issues; open access/open publishing; digitization and library matters; free trade agreements and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). It also includes conference alerts, useful websites and issues affecting access to knowledge, especially in the developing world.
If anyone would like to receive these updates, then please email Denise Nicholson at Nicholson.D@library.wits.ac.za.
6. Numbers subscribing to these News Updates
The numbers subscribing to these News Updates is now nearing 350.
If others would like to subscribe then just drop me an email at: rikowskigr@aol.com.
N.B. Many thanks to Helen Raduntz, Mengxiong Liu and Denise Nicholson for providing information for this News Update, No. 8, for items 2, 4 and 5 respectively.
Best wishes
Ruth
15th April 2007
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