SR-SIS Newsletter, vol. 8, no. 2

In This Issue:

War and Peace
Elections
Chair's Column: Or Death Comes to Anaheim
Standing Committee's Collage Gets the Issues Out
Vice Chair/Chair Elect Candidate Biographies Secretary/Treasurer Candidate Biographies
What Should SR-SIS Address in the Next Few Years?
In Search of a Webmaster

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War and Peace

The following letter is by Mark Rosenzweig, a member of ALA's Social Responsibility Round Table's Action Council. It has not been accepted as a SORT resolution as of this printing.

We speak to you as librarians. Librarianship is a humanistic profession whose practice implies in its commitment to the values of openness, democracy and freedom, the superiority of reason over force and of Librarianship can be said to be, at its very core, opposed to war and violence. It is, after all, dedicated to an ideal of human progress which attends to preservation and continuity, dedicated to patient, constructive work for a better future based on the possibilities inherent in the extension of human autonomy and self-development. We are a modest profession which nonetheless significantly helps create and maintain the ever-threatened space for discourse and argument, for free speech and dissent so important to a robust democracy. We are also a profession based on mutuality and cooperation at every level, including international cooperation, in the service of a world of knowledge and sensibility which knows no borders. Educators and public servants, scholars and researchers, we are above all a profession of nurturers, who help keep alive the sometimes flickering flame of human reason and understanding.

Hear us out, though we speak for the moment not of books and databases, but on an issue which we ask you to imagine somehow implicitly our legitimate professional concern given the values we've just enumerated.

We speak to you of war and of the threat of war.

Not of a battle joined of necessity, in self-defense. But of acts of was, planned and plotted with cold calculation against another nation and, less abstractly, against another people. As we write, outr government is preparin an air assault on Iraq which will be devastating to the already suffering Iraqi people and which will contribute NOTHING to the cause of democracy or peace in that region of the world and in fact will destroy the fragile processes of peace and progress in the Middle East which have struggled to survive against so many obstacles. We do not accept the planned death of countless civilians, the destruciton of the infrastructure of their lives and society as an "acceptable price to pay" or as "collateral damage."

We speak in solidarity with our colleagues in the nation of Iraq, in its libraries and schools and universities, who strive for freedom and the end of oppression but in no way wish to see their people suffer another round of punitive military attacks and wanton destruction.

No one can truly believe that a "message sent to Saddam Hessein" in the blood of innocents has any effect on the heart of Iraq's dictator. It would be yet another macho domonstration of our military superiority, an object lesson in US willingness to use any means, no matter how disporportionate or inappropriate, at its disposal to pursue its ends.

We oppose this was, of course, not because we support the abhorrent dictator Saddam Hussein, but because another attack on the humiliated and suffering Iraqi nation and people would once again only be an exercise in senseless cruelty, cold-hearted destruction, murder from on high without responsibility or a faceless, mechanized, computerized mass destruction which would only strengthen that enemy of freedom, Saddam Hussein.

As U.S. librarians, as citizens and professionals we feel wee have a right and a moral responsibility to address issues impacting the people we serve and the relationship of our nation to the world. The recklessness of stirkes against Iraq which threaten to destroy the fragile tendrils of the peace process in the region and to provoke unpredictable and dangerous responses from other actors, reaches out to threaten, not just ourselves and our children, but the next generations who will live with the unintended consequences of this unnecessary resort to full military force.

There are forces, among them the United Nations, which are striving for a diplomatic solution to the impasse over site inspections in the sovereign nation of Iraq. We support all such efforts.

Therefore, the Action Council of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the-American Library Association, in this emergency letter, voices its complete opposition to the planned U.S.-led attacks on the nation of Iraq and to the threats of the preemptive use, once again, of our weapons of mass destruction, and we do so as professionals in the field of librarianship concerned not only about the health, welfare and development of the people of Iraq, but also about the degrading effects the mindless recourse to war and technological violence has on the fabric of democracy and civic culture in the U.S. itself.

Elections

Within this issue you will find the official ballot for the Social Responsibilities SIS. This is a ground-breaking election, in that is it the first time we will not mail a separate ballots to members. This change was approved last year at the Annual Meeting.

We have an excellent slate of candidates this year for both the ViceChair/Chair Elect position and the Secretary/Treasurer. Their background information is also included in the newsletter.

Chair's Column: Or Death Comes to Anaheim

I'm writing this on March 30, 1998 and the "big" news is still full of stories about Titanic's golden night at the Oscars, the Jonesboro school shooting, and the basketball triumph of Kentucky.

As best as I can tell, no law librarians were involved in any of the foregoing events.

My "small" news is full of two other items: a prayer request at church for someone dying of AIDS, whose partner needs prayer. It struck me since I've gone over a year now without losing a friend to AIDS. Plus a friend from college emailed to say he'd be going to Germany to run some clinical drug trials. He lives in San Francisco and this new position will uproot him rather dramatically, yet put him near his birth family.

As unrelated and disjointed as these five items are, I found something in them. James Cameron made his movie, despite the criticism of many, and yet the people rejoiced in his tale of doomed love arid named him "King of the World" for a night. Oh yeah., they sent money too. Kentucky wasn't expected to go all the way this year, but they did. And they did it with a team that clearly embraced and supported each other, on and off the camera and courts. Quite remarkably so, if I may say. And the others? They are in their troubled seas. How will Jonesboro react? Who knows? I can't imagine telling the world that one of my sons had done these shootings, but one father has. I thought about how vulnerable my two middle school age sons are to violence and drugs (in particular, heroin, in their Dallas suburb). Don will face an empty bed when his lover is gone. So will Mike when he moves to Germany. Two of these events are An (although filled with much hard work) and three are painful. Who is keeping score in our collective lives in the SR-SIS?

That night, after the UK basketball game, I was talking to my oldest son about Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop. We were talking about how the book is perceived on such different levels, with some people very fond of it and others quite dismissive of the work. It made me think Dale had given me a wonderful metaphor for our Annual Meeting. This year we're all going to be tested by a new schedule. It will be different, but that doesn't mean it will be bad. I'm also going to see to it that we have refreshmentsat our meeting, now on Wednesday, although I never knew coffee was $38 a gallon. And we did get one program accepted, F7 "Each Jurisdiction Has Its Own Horizons: Gay Rights is a Local Issue" on Tuesday at 9:45 A.M.

I'm also wishing I had come up with some better idea for recruitment and leadership. I haven't. My STML (Spend the Money on Librarians) idea fizzled and died. Our protest over AALL's decision to reduce our involvement with the American Correctional Assn. has been referred to a committee. So be it. But I have taken great joy in the efforts of John Davey and Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues. John is doing great work toward getting the members of his committee to join our SIS, and toward making some decisions about the bequest of Alan Holoch. And I like their newsletter, Collage, a lot too.

So how does that conclude anything? Well, we still have our team. I'm not aware that we've lost any members, in any sense of the word. In particular, I'd like to thank prano Amjadi, John Davey & Karen Westwood for their efforts and support this year. I think it is fair to say we'll all be helping out at Anaheim and working toward Washington.

We've all grown in the past year, with some fun and some sadness touching us all. As I reflect on the sunlight fading against the garden wall of my tenure as Chair, I think that the mere fact of being involved in something larger than my own life has brought me joy, despite my own shortcomings. I'm not Leo DiCaprio, but we haven't hit any icebergs either.

Whether I'll see you in Anaheim or not, my peace.

Bruce Kleinschmidt

Standing Committee's Collage Gets the Issues Out

SR-SIS's Standing Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues has a new newsletter this year. The February issue was the second of the the new quarterly publication. Edited by Laura Whitbeck, librarian at Bryan Cave in Washington, D.C. the newsletter includes articles from several members of the standing committee.

First page focus was given to the educational program that will be offered in Anahein this summer. "Each Jurisdiction Has its Own Horizon: Gay Rights is a Local Issue" will feature: Jennifer Pizer, Managing Attorney of Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund's West Coast Office Todd Bennett, Thelen Marrin in San Francisco; and John Davey Dechert Price in New York, as moderator.

Also included in the publication is a letter from the chair, a reprint of Lolly Gasaway's memorial to Alan Holoch, an article on the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, job openings, upcoming events and news briefs.

The newsletter ended with a ballot containing two important issues. First was a choice on how the interest from the Holoch bequest should be spent: on scholarships or workshops/programs/institutes.

The second issue was a bylaw change that would require Standing Committee members to join the Social Responsibilities SIS.

Vice Chair/Chair Elect Candidate Biographies

John Davey

John Davey is currently Director of the New York Library of Dechert Price & Rhoads. He has been there for 3 years. Prior to that, he has worked as Assistant Librarian at Epstein, Becker and Green in NY for 5 years and at Dewey Ballantine as Assistant Librarian for 2 yrs.

John is currently the Chair of the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues for Social Responsibilities. In previous years, he has been moderator on several programs at the Annual Convention including "Out in the Workplace: Current Legal Issues on Sexual Orientation". This year, he once again serves as moderator for "Each Jurisdiction has its own Horizon: Gay Rights is a Local Issue". John has also served as Advertising Chair and Business Editor of "PLL Perspectives", the newsletter of the PLL SIS, for the past 2 years. He moderated a program for them last year concerning Legislative Histories.

Locally, John has served as Board Member of LLAGNY (Law Library Association of Greater New York) and as Nominations Chair and most recently as Advertising Chair for a period of 5 years. He has also been speaker on several local programs over the years including boutique and one-person libraries.

John is a native of Georgia and holds a Master's Degree from the University of Michigan.

Ellen Platt AALL Experience:
Program Coordinator, Social Responsibilities Education Program, "Hiring practices in Religious Organizations," July, 1994.
Secretary/Treasurer, Academic Law Libraries SIS, 1997-1998
Member, Public Relations Committee, 1997-1998

LocalChapter Experience (LLAW, Wisconsin):
President, 1997-1998 (partial year due to job change)
Vice President/Program Co-Chair, 1996-1997
Program Committee Co-Chair, 1995-1996
Public Relations Committee Chair, 1993-1995

Employment History:
Current position, Director of Public Services, Santa Clara University, Heafey Law Library, since October 1997. Previously Head of Reference and Reference Librarian at Marquette University Law Library, October 1992 to October 1997.

Education:
BS History, University of Oregon, 1983;
JD, University of Oregon, 1991;
ML, certificate in Law Librarianship, University of Washington, 1992

Secretary/Treasurer Candidate Biographies

Leslie M. Campbell

AALL experience:
Member, 1992-
Social Responsibilities SIS, 1995-
Academic Libraries SIS, 1992-
Program Coordinator & Presenter,

• "Women in the Courts," 1994,
• "Taking a Stand - Delivering a Message of Social Action," 1996
• "Keeping Watch on the Waterfront: A History of Social Responsibility," 1997

Regional/local law library chapters experience:
NOCALL member, 1992
Education Committee, Co-chair, 1994-95

Experience in other library (or related) professional organizations:
California Bar member, 1984-

Publications:
Women in the Courts: The Changing Courtroom Environment: Bibliography, 1994
"Electronic Curbcuts: How to Build an Accessible Web Site," CAPED Communique, Spring 1997, pg.6

Current employment:
Public Services Librarian, University of San Francisco
Law Library, January 1997-

Prior employment (most recent 10 years)
Head of Circulation / Reference Librarian, Santa Clara
University School of Law, 1992- 1996

Educational Background:
J.D. Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley, 1984
M.S. University of Washington, 1992
A.B. University of California, Berkeley, 1981

Jill Farmer

I am the Information Resources Coordinator at DeWitt Ross & Stevens in Madison, Wisconsin. I have an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and an M.L.S. from the University of Maryland.

I currently am active in local library organizations including the Wisconsin Women Library Workers (Steering Committee, and immediate past co-editor of the Newsletter from 1994-1997) and the Law Library Association of Wisconsin (Program Committee Co-Chair since 1997).

In prior years while employed in Washington, D:C. I was involved in the Law Librarians' Society of D.C.: as a founding member and president of the Interlibrary Loan Special Interest Section and editor of the group's newsletter.

Recently I have spent a lot of time giving workshops and training around the country for lawyers and paralegals on efficient and effective use of the Internet for legal research, and I am also coordinating and instructing lessons inhouse for staff and clients on using electronic databases for research.

These activities, however, don't do much to help advance the cause of social responsibilities, and I would be more than happy to expand my range of involvement in this regard.

Help Wanted

No. This isn't the job postings. This is once again a plea for input. This volume of the newsletter is a departure from the past. Now that you have had a chance to see two issues, you comments are requested.

Do you like the new look? What about the content? Would you like to contribute some content? I know there are wonderful writers within this SIS, would you consider a column? What about a one time article? Perhaps a letter to the editor.....

The next issue of this newsletter will be out in early June, with an article deadline of May 26th. Please consider writing something for this up-coming issue.

I would like to have regular news updates from the two standing committees, and a letters to the editor section.

Prano Amjadi
(408)554-5320
pamjadi@mailer.scu.edu

What Should SR-SIS Address in the Next Few Years?

The following topics are answers given to the above question, asked in an electronic survey that was given over the Law-Lib discussion list two ago. The survey results were used in an educational program that year at the Annual Meeting But these free-form answers were never released. They are presented here as food for thought These are the responses of our colleagues.

Access to courts, lawyers, legal information (2)

Access to resources in public law libraries as collections migrate from paper-based collections to pay-per-use electronic collections - The Haves v. Have-nots in Internet/web information

Affirmative action (relating to law librarianship education, employment and promotion) - in Law Schools

Censorship (2) -- on the internet

Corporations and their interplay with academic freedom

Comparable worth issue in the workplace

Domestic partner benefits

Educational opportunities in law librarianship for minorities and remote groups such as Native Americans in tribal libraries

Employment discrimination

Environmental impact of photocopying, Lexis and Westlaw printing

Environmental issues impacting the association

Issues mentioned in the survey

Law library concerns only -- The only issues the organization should address are those concerns relative to our profession. Individual and political concerns are best left to other organizations -- Social issues are tied too tightly to political issues. Taking sides on such things as animal rights or the right to carry arms gets us too far away from our professional goals. These types of issues should be addressed by forums other than AALL. -- I'm not sure AALL should have a social responsibilities SIS. Yes, I agree that AALL members should be socially aware and active, but I believe that AALL, as an organization, should focus on professional responsibilties and leave members social awareness to the individuals. -- Although I do not believe that AALLshould take an optical position on issues not directly related to law librarianship, I think it appropriate for the SR-SIS to raise some of these issues as generally relevant to members of the profession. -- Let's concentrate on Library and Information issues, not animal rights, gay & lesbian issues, etc. Leave those issues to their respective organizations. -- Not a good use of AALL $ to fight battles outside our library and publishing purview. Let's concentrate on where we can continue to be effective advocates and leave broader issues to assn's more appropriate in mission... -- Issues that represent the ENTIRE association membership, not a small group that is within the association.-- The Association should work on professional development. The membership is too diverse for the SIS or the Association to take a position on social issues. We could end up like a political party--torn by internal strife over personal issues. -What does (do?) Animal rights (and several other stated issues) have to do with law librarianship? Why don't you stick to professional issues, and leave the political views alone in a professional organization? -- Just law library related issues. Private concerns about "the world", morals, etc. should be handled in small group gatherings Owe don't need to spend AALL dollars on those issues when thare are law library issues relating to employment, collections, etc. that need AALL dollars. --

Legal literacy

Management choices regarding parenting needs of working law librarians

Pro bono activity by law librarians for minorities and remote groups

Professional ethics

Public access to government information, particularly the internet - access to legally related resources on the internet for public libraries, health and human services agencies Cost of internet access for remote users

Publisher issues (relating to law libraries)

Retrenchment of prisoners rights - impact of Supreme Court decision (1996) on law library access for institutionalized prisoners

Technological racism

In Search of a Webmaster

Although the SR-SIS was the first SIS to have a presence on the web, we have not been able to expand, or even update, the pages from the intial creative efforts by James Duggan and minor revisions by Prano Amjadi a year ago.

We are looking for a webmaster. Someone comfortable with html or desktop publishing. The amount of time necessary for updates is minimal. We also approved the purchase of a web page editor at the last business meeting. So the new webmaster could use their software of choice.

Currently the web page is in Netobjects Fusion, which is not a true html editor, but more like a desktop publisher. So people with no web creation experience would be able to take over.

You can see our page at: http://www.aallnet.org/sis/srsis. If you have an interest, please contact Bruce Kleinschmidt.