[577] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: In Memoriam
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Tue Jun 23 10:10:14 1992
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 08:56:06 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
3 Messages, 62 Lines
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Moderator's Note: While this is a very worthy subject for discusssion,
it had veered from the scope of PACS-L. This will be the final posting
on this topic on PACS-L. Thank you for your cooperation. --Dana
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From: Kathryn Deiss <KDEISS@NUACVM>
Subject: RE: In Memoriam
RE: Black Armbands for Mendocino (and others)
I must admit that I had a sort of 60's knee jerk reaction to the idea of
wearing black armbands at ALA -- that is, it sounded like a good thing to
do; a way to present our frustrations with the awful circumstances that
many libraries find themselves in.
On reflection, and also in response to P. Graham's posting, I believe that
we too often fall into this non-productive pattern: WE TALK TO OURSELVES.
How many of us take the time to write to our senators and congressmen or
to run for office or to mount a nation-wide protest? Talking to the already
converted won't do us any good. I doubt that there will be a majority of
people at ALA who would not agree that library closings, etc. are an
outrage. What we need to do is take it to the people and take it to the
legislators. (For a real scare, take a look at the most recent issue of the
New York Review of Books piece by Garry Wills on Ross Perot! Yikes!) Let's
get off our buts (as in "yeah, but...") and try to INFLUENCE circumstances.
Our library school educations emphasized objectivity over subjectivity but
this is not the time to stand apart from a situation.
Kathryn Deiss
Northwestern University
(708) 491-2891 tel.
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From: Susan.Beck@um.cc.umich.edu
Subject: Re: In Memoriam
How about Red, White, and Blue--a most meaningful patriotism.
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From: dbosseau@library.sdsu.edu (Don L. Bosseau)
Subject: California Library Closing
Being closer to the results of drastic budget deficits here in
California, I understand Steve and Polly's position regarding the demise
of a whole library system. But Peter Graham has hit the nail on the
head. Reagan was busy downloading programs and the bills for those
programs to the states and local governments. Concurrently, California
voters were cutting taxes and passing referendums which eliminated much
of the flexibility for allocating tax revenues. The result is what we
find now in this state with the world's 6th largest GNP (if it were a
nation). In other words, bigger is not always better.
While the nation was led down the track of living higher on the hog
through bigger borrowing, only the rich got richer, and libraries were
never included in that group. The military spending that Peter refers to
certainly seems to be a candidate for redirection towards programs that
could help the nation. Otherwise, weapon systems may end up being the
last industry left in the U.S. in which we remain competitive in the
world. At crunch time in California, education and libraries are not
faring very well at all.
Don Bosseau
SDSU
