Letters.

Letters. Sir, As chair of the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL CASL Compact Application Solution Language (Feras Information Technologies)CASL Capital Area Soccer League (Raleigh, NC)CASL Chartered Advisor for Senior LivingCASL Crosstalk Application Scripting Language ), Iwould like to respond to a comment by R L Cope on pages 224-5 of hisreview article in the August 2001 issue of the Australian LibraryJournal. The comment addressed the decision in March 2001 by CASL todisband dis��band?v. dis��band��ed, dis��band��ing, dis��bandsv.tr.To dissolve the organization of (a corporation, for example).v.intr.1. the scheme to exchange State parliamentary and legislativematerial between State Libraries. R L Cope expressed concern that the rationale for this decision wasin part based on the increasing availability of State parliamentary andlegislative material in electronic format and that State libraries maybase collection development decisions for this material on the trend forelectronic publishing An umbrella term for non-paper publishing, which includes publishing online or on media such as CDs and DVDs. of this material. I would like to state that libraries represented by CASL continueto be concerned to collect and maintain the State parliamentary andlegislative material of their State in physical format, preferablypaper, to ensure long-term access to this material. The decision by CASLto disband the exchange scheme was based on a requirement to streamlinethe supply arrangements and to reduce the subscription costs for some ofthe libraries in acquiring this material. Fran Awcock, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. State Library of Victoria Sir, Anyone interested in the history or Australian libraries andlibrarianship --which should be everyone interested in their greatfuture--is indebted to our former West Australian West Australian commonly refers to people or things from Western Australia.Specific things to which it may refer include: the newspaper The West Australian; and now Canadiancolleague Dr Norman Horrocks Norman Horrocks, Professor Emeritus and Adjunct Professor, School of Information Management, Dalhousie University has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006. This award recognizes "a lifetime of achievement and merit of a high degree. for his contribution to the NationalLibrary of the large newspaper clippings file of responses to the 1935Munn-Pitt report. Indirectly, also thanks to Dr Horrocks and directly tohis Canadian colleague Professor Larry Amey, a full set of the clippingsis also now held by the Australian Clearing House for Library andInformation Science (ACHLIS) at the University of SA Library. ACHLISholds too, a copy of Dr Horrock's outstanding 1971 University ofPittsburgh doctoral thesis The Carnegie Corporation of New York Carnegie Corporation of New York,foundation established (1911) to administer Andrew Carnegie's remaining personal fortune for philanthropic purposes. Initially endowed with $125 million, the foundation received another $10 million from the residual estate. and itsimpact on library development in Australia, which unfortunately hasnever been published either as a monograph, or, to the best of myknowledge, in the journal literature. Both that thesis and the Munn-Pittfile are essential reading if one is to gauge just how far and howrapidly Australian libraries and librarianship progressed during the20th century. Alan Bundy Alan Bundy, FRSE, FBCS, FAAAI, FECCAI, FAISB, is a professor at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, known for his contributions to automated reasoning, especially to proof-planning, the use of meta-level reasoning to guide proof search. , Director ACHLIS, University of SA Library And via the internet From: Camille Peters Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 To: Norman Horrocks Cc: John Levett Subject: Letter in Australian Library Journal February 2002 Mr Horrocks, I did a quick search of the NLA NLA National Library of AustraliaNLA National Liberation Army (Macedonian rebel group)NLA No Longer AvailableNLA Network Location AwarenessNLA National Lipid AssociationNLA National Legislative Assembly catalogue at www.nla.gov.au andcame across the following record: Call number: MS 9137 Author: Horrocks, Norman, 1927 Title: Scrapbook A Macintosh disk file that holds frequently used text and graphics objects, such as a company letterhead. Contrast with "clipboard," which is reserved memory that holds data only for the current session. , 1935 [manuscript] Date range: 1935. Description: 4 cm. (1 v.) Subject: Horrocks, Norman, 1927-. --Archives. Munn, Ralph, 1894-. Australian libraries. Pitt, Ernest R. (Ernest Roland), 1877-1957. Librarians--Archives. Libraries--Australia. Notes: Manuscript reference no.: NLA MS 9137. Available forreference. Not for loan. Background: Librarian, educator, writer and publisher. With acareer in librarianship spanning nearly half a century and threecontinents, Horrocks has received many library awards in America andCanada. He divides his time between publishing at Scarecrow Scarecrowgoes to Wizard of Oz to get brains. [Am. Lit.: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]See : IgnoranceScarecrowcan’t live up to his name. [Am. Lit.: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; Am. Press andteaching at Dalhousie University. Summary: Newspaper cutting record of the impact of the Munn-Pittreport, 1935, on Australian libraries. The survey on library developmentwas undertaken under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation of NewYork. I presume this is the record you were referring to in your letter? Camille Peters From: Norman Horrocks Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 To: Camille Peters Cc: John Levett Subject: Re: Letter in Australian Library Journal February 2002 Many thanks Camille--yes, that's the item Larry Amey wasreferring to in his February 2002 ALJ ALJ Administrative Law JudgeALJ Association for Legal Justice (Northern Ireland)article. IMHO "In my humble opinion." See IMO and digispeak. (chat) IMHO - (From SF fandom via Usenet) In My Humble Opinion. Also seen in variant forms such as IMO, IMNSHO (In My Not-So-Humble Opinion) and IMAO (In My Arrogant Opinion). there is one major and one minor error in the NLA record. Major: It is a collection of newspaper articles clipped from theAustralian press of 1935 and dealing with the Munn-Pitt Report onAustralian libraries. I was the donor NOT the author. Minor: `nearly half a century' is kind but incorrect. At thetime I gave this item to NLA it would have been `over half acentury'--i.e. 1943-date! But this apart I am glad to see your findings. Norman Horrocks. Sir, Miroslaw Kruk, in his article `The superstitions in publiclibraries' would have us believe that libraries should return tothe `Golden Age' of the 19th century when `They were intended to beinstrumental in the moral and intellectual elevation of themasses'. And whilst not explicitly saying that libraries shoulddiscard all manner of `superstitious books' (astrology, witchcraft,Nostradamus, dream interpretation) he states: `The public library isthus at a crossroads. Either it returns to its noble, civilizing missionor it will become a temple of ignorance.' In his article Mr Kruk argues the absurdity of such subjects asfeng-shui, and ayurveda, and that as a consequence, such books do notdeserve to be in public library collections. But really is it the roleof the Australian Library Journal, or indeed librarians in general todetermine the validity of new age ideas, or whether reductionism reductionism(rē·dukˑ·sh·niˑ·z issuperior to wholism? I think most librarians would agree that it is not.After all there are numerous scientific and philosophical journals thatwould provide a suitable arena for such a discussion. Then again,perhaps I am wrong on that score, and the Australian Library Journalshould be made into an arena for such philosophical discussions At any rate let us examine Mr Kruk's suggestions critically. If public libraries were to remove their `superstitious'books, such as astrology or palmistry palmistryReading of an individual's character and divination of the future by interpreting lines on the palm of the hand. Palmistry may have originated in ancient India, and it was probably from their original Indian home that the traditional fortune-telling of the Gypsies why stop there? Why not remove oursections on religion, and parts of philosophy and mythology? After allmany scientists consider religion the ultimate superstition. Karl Marxcalled religion `the opiate opiate/opi��ate/ (o��pe-it)1. any drug derived from opium.2. hypnotic (2).o��pi��aten.1. of the masses'. Even the psychologysection is at risk, with many scientists debating whether or not much ofpsychology utilises scientific methods. What about much of the publiclibrary's recreational reading, its fiction? Perhaps the Mills andBoon, Harlequin, and Silhouette books should be removed. After all, howeducational and civilizing can they be? One can go on and on from there.One could truly create a library modeled on the 19th century, but howwell used would it be? Most public librarians will tell you of the effort they go to inorder to encourage the general public to use the collections as they arenow. Public libraries nowadays are well stocked with music CDcollections (classical, jazz and pop all catered for), popularmagazines, children's books and materials, and an astonishing arrayof popular fiction. And yet still, many public libraries are not as wellused as they could be. With the competition for funds and space, alibrary modeled on Mr Kruk's suggestions would not survive in themodern age. If [public] libraries became the `educating' and`civilizing' institutions, that Mr Kruk suggests, many localcouncils would be tempted to close them ... After all, they wouldrationalise, why do we need public libraries to `educate' when wehave school and university libraries that could easily fill that role. Some other points to consider: 1. Just because public libraries are buying large amounts of`superstitious' books doesn't mean that the more`orthodox' or `traditional' books are being displaced from acollection. In fact as any public librarian will tell you, when it comesto discarding or weeding a collection, the classical literature isusually retained, even if never used. If a classical work of poetry orliterature is removed, it's usually because of its condition, inwhich case the book is replaced with a fresh new copy of the same title. 2. Mr Kruk gave us a number of examples of libraries in Victoriawith large holdings in subjects such as astrology. There is no way thatthis would be so across the board in Australia. Any public librarianwill tell you that demography plays a part in collection development. Incertain council libraries of NSW NSWNew South WalesNoun 1. NSW - the agency that provides units to conduct unconventional and counter-guerilla warfareNaval Special Warfare , where a significant proportion of thepopulation is of a senior age, western fiction and romance books, may bethe most borrowed items, while well-stocked collections of nonfictionbooks sit idle. In areas of Sydney's North Shore, the EasternSuburbs or the Inner West, where concentrations of young middleclassprofessionals (the so-called `yuppie') are greater, readingpatterns will again be quite different. 3. Another issue to consider is what I call `multi-use' ofcollections. What I mean by this is that many books in a librarycollection can be used by different people for totally differentreasons. A case in point is an experience I had a number of years ago,where a local Christian group wanted to prepare some information on thedangers of the occult and witchcraft. So naturally, they borrowed anumber of our books on that subject. Another example would be anastronomer wanting to prepare a paper outlining the flaws inastrology'. He would naturally want a book on Astrology. I could goon and on with such examples. The point is if people like Mr Kruk hadtheir way, they could very well be denying ammunition to the very peoplethey are professing to support. 4. Mr Kruk argues that placing `superstitious' books in alibrary collection will qualify them `as being a legitimate source ofinformation'. There is simply no basis of fact in this statement.It's been my experience in public libraries that many people will,once shown the relevant section of a non-fiction collection, lookclosely at books pertaining to their enquiry. If they are predisposedtowards certain ideas (superstitious ones perhaps) then they will usethose books; if not they will ignore them. Library users often commenton whether they found a book useful or total bunkum bun��kumalso bun��combe ?n.Empty or insincere talk; claptrap.[After Buncombe, a county of western North Carolina, from a remark made around 1820 by its congressman, who felt obligated to . And this is thecrux here. Many library users still exercise discernment when viewing acollection. We aren't dealing with `ignorant savages'. Thatwould be a very 19th century view, wouldn't it? It's been my experience in public libraries that we try tohave as broad-based a collection as possible, in order to cover theincreasingly wide array of enquiries we receive. In essence publiclibraries should be there to give people the ability to make an informedjudgment, not make the judgment for them. Making an informed decisionrequires having all the information before you, not a selected part ofit. That leads to `blinkered' and narrow-minded thinking. Themoment we start to censor material, and try to decide what our patrons`should' and `shouldn't' be reading we will beindoctrinating them, and cease to be relevant in our society. Public libraries are also in a sense custodians of humanculture--music, literature, art, science and religion. This means theaccumulated wisdom of the ages, but also the contemporary culture of theday. If that contemporary culture is ignorant and stupid, then so be it.It will be up to future generations to make that judgment. But theywon't be able to make that judgment if we have selectively removedthe information. Many records and libraries were destroyed in theconquest of the Americas because they were considered the work ofignorant `savages' and the information they held detrimental tohumanity. Much of the early history' of those races is now lost tous forever. The oral and vocal traditions of many North American North Americannamed after North America.North American blastomycosissee North American blastomycosis.North American cattle ticksee boophilusannulatus. Indiantribes were wiped in the relentless war against them by so called`enlightened' individuals of the 19th Century. Some of the real issues facing public libraries today includehaving to deal with the increasing amount of nonbook materials in theircollections, whilst facing restrictions in terms of space and funding.Should parts of a library's collection be digitised, and if so whatand how much? These are the sorts of issues we need to address notpushing the agenda of scientific rationalism or some spurious notions of19th century idealism. Anthony Zappia, Defence Library Service