SR-SIS Newsletter, vol. 8, no. 3

In This Issue:

Anaheim Preview: A Socially Responsible Guide
Election Results
From the Chair: Putting Down Roots
Self-Censored "Musings" Column by Mark Mackler
Standing Committee Amends By-Laws
Prisons Online: Versuslaw Demostration

---

Anaheim Preview: A Socially Responsible Guide

With only one program sponsored by the Social Responsibilities SIS, you might be wondering what other socially relevant programs will be offered during this Annual Meeting in (hopefully) sunny California.

Well wonder no more!! This guide will take you day by day through the conference schedule, highlighting topics of interest. Kudos to Michael Saint-Onge and his committee for providing us with so many thought-provoking topics for this conference.

Saturday starts the conference off with a bang. The Diversity Symposium: Preparing for the 21st Century runs 2:30-5:00 and will focus on California's controversial Prop 209, the initiative that ended affirmative action in California public institutions and the Hopwood case in Texas.

Sunday morning provides two opportunities at 10:00-Noon:

A5-The Guiding Principles of the 21st Century: The 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This program will give an historical overview of the human rights movement and will focus on Eleanor Roosevelt's role in the developments.

A6-Legislative and Regulatory Update.
With everything going on with the internet and UCC 2B, librarian issues are a social issue. Come hear what our Washington Affairs Office has been doing.

On Sunday afternnon at 1:30 the focus turns toward women's issues and the glass ceiling near our own backyard.

B2-See New Horizons Above the Glass Ceiling: A CEO's Experience in a Predominantly Male Publishing Industry.
Women's issues were part of the concerns that created our SIS. Come hear Kathryn Downing's story of the legal publishing world.

Monday morning for 8:00-10:00 join the social confusion....

C7-The Dawn of the Biotechnology Age: Medical Questions, Legal Issues and the Social Confusion.
Genetic engineering?? ... animal organs?? ... should be an eye-opener.

From 3:15 to 5:15 Monday afternoon, the difficulties of prosecuting war crimes will be discussed.

E5-50 Years After Nuremberg and Tokyo: The Future of International and Domestic Prosecutions of War Crimes.
Attendees will learn about grass root efforts and how they can participate.

On Tuesday morning, 9:45-10:45 our very own John Davey moderates a program.

F7-Each Jurisdiction Has Its Own Horizon: Gay Rights is a Local Issue.
Come get an update on city/county gay rights legislation, and how to keep track with what is current.

From 11:00-Noon check out what is happening on the ADA horizon:

G4-New Horizons for Disabled Patrons and Staff: Where Are We Now with the ADA?

or

Take a look at the intimate and complex relationship between the US and Mexico and how it affects the Mexican-American community.
G7-New Horizons in United States-Mexican Relations and their Impact on Mexican-Americans.

Enjoy the conference!.

Election Results

Congratulations!!!!!

John Davey and Leslie Campbell have been elected in our first Social Responsibilites election to be held without a separate ballot mailing. According to current Secretary/Treasurer, Rebecca Trammel, the ballot return was light, but this is not that unusual for the SIS. The SIS would like feedback from its members on this new approach toward SIS voting.

John Davey, Librarian at Dechert, Price and Rhoads in NYC, is currently the Chair of the Standing Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues. John is also the coordinator and moderator of the one SRSIS-sponsored educational program that was selected by the Anaheim committee.

John has been elected as Vice Chair/Chair-Elect. He will serve as head of the SIS's Education Committee for the Washington DC Annual Meeting.

Leslie Campbell, Public Services Librarian at the University of San Francisco, has been a speaker and moderator of two SRSIS-sponsored programs in the last two years. Leslie will serve a two year term as Secretary/Treasurer for the SIS.

From the Chair: Putting Down Roots

Let me remind you I've ordered beverage service for 50 in Anaheim, so show up for coffee, cokes and punch on Wednesday afternoon. You've already paid for it, believe me. The Hilton went to "Tomorrowland" (before it reopened on May 22nd) to find the prices they charge. This is proving to be an expensive trip.

In looking over the year, I have two items to mention. The first was the "STML" idea, "Spend the money on Librarians." I was unable to generate much interest in the concept of providing a registration fund to allow a section member to attend the Annual Meeting.

The other matter is considerably more involved. It deals with the American Correctional Associations Inter-Association Committee on Law Libraries/Libraries in Corrections. In March of 1997 the AALL Board of Directors, after serious discussion and study, voted to discontinue the funding of representatives to some programs. This was one of them. Rebecca Trammell and others were concerned about this decision and brought it up during our business meeting in Baltimore, on July 20, 1997. A motion was made to oppose the AALL's decision. Further, the motion allocated up to $1,000 to finance a representative, in case AALL did not reverse their course of action, so that Rebecca could attend ACA's meeting in Orlando, her hometown.

I prepared a motion to the AALL Board, stating our position. Jim Heller, Board Liaison for the SIS Council, prepared advice to the AALL Board in October, stating that four courses of action were open to them: 1. Abide by the March 1997 resolution and eliminate the representative to ACA. 2. Reconsider the decision in light of a compelling argument by the SR-SIS. 3. Allow SR-SIS to fund a representative to ACA but consider the representative as "RR's representative," as an exception to the normal financial policy of AALL. 4. Allow the SR-SIS to pursue representation on their own, and from the funds of SR-SIS. As the PLL SIS funds a representative to ALA, this would not be a "radical" solution.

The AALL Board voted on November 1, 1997 to refer the matter to the Strategic Planning and Finance & Budget Committees. The Board met again on February 27 & 28 of 1998 and voted not to fund a representative to ACA. This was done, I understand, to be consistent with the determination made in 1997 to eliminate several such relationships. The notice of the Board's decision was mailed to me on May 4, 1998 and in discussing the issue with our officers and Roger Parent, it seemed best to wait until Anaheim and let the membership consider what to do, in light of the action of AALL. The Orlando meeting is long past and we are now looking at a permanent situation.

Another issue that surfaced in Baltimore is that we have another group within our SR-SIS who wants to strictly promote lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender concerns. There has been some serious talk of them starting a new SIS, and the issue has been ongoing.

When you look in the back of our AALL Directory you'll see pages of policies and statements. We write about "the distribution of legal information in our society," we proclaim intellectual freedom, we declare "pro-active programs to ... assist government decision makers ...," we declare that the right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of "background." Very lofty words and ideas and would seem in keeping with a continued vision of service to prison libraries as well as service to gay/lesbian/bi/transgendered persons.

The example of the very recent mud slides in the city of Sarno, in the Campania region of Italy, comes to mind. Well over 100 people have been killed, and the city largely destroyed. Why? Because the trees on the hills were cut, and when the roots died and rotted, there was nothing to hold the mud to the hillside. Perhaps that sound somewhat reasonable, albeit stupid, but understandable given the need for firewood. Yet consider the location of Sarno. I haven't been there, but my Dad has. Sarno is only twelve miles from Pompeii. Here in this small Italian city, a day's walk from one of the greatest ruins on earth, the lessons of disaster were forgotten thanks to short term memory.

I think we think to come to Anaheim with an idea of what we want to be planting and growing. We need to make some decisions for the future, so that we don't slide away.

It's more than ordering coffee, isn't it?

Bruce Kleinschmidt
Chair

Self-Censored "Musings" Column

Some of you might know that I write a regular column called "Musings from Mark" for our NOCALL News. It's something which I have been doing for years, and I find it's worth my time. I enjoy doing it, and the feedback which I receive is usually positive.

For my most recent column, however, there was a segment which I chose not to include. Frankly, I was a little concerned that it might have repercussions if seen by the general NOCALL audience. Let me share with you in this SR-SIS Newsletter what I was going to write for NOCALL News. By the way, the message might have application only to my private law firm friends and colleagues.

Several weeks ago, I spent a nice Saturday afternoon on the UC Berkeley campus. The occasion was the Library School's Annual Spring Alumni Luncheon. Our guest speaker that day was Daphne Muse, a lively and thought-provoking writer and editor of children's books, with a particular strength in the area of mulitculturalism.

Ms. Muse revealed to us what it was like for her to have grown up on Rhode Island Avenue in Washington, D.C. Her local library branch played an enormous role in making her what she is today. Indeed, it was her local library which provided her with a "refuge" of sorts. Without that library, she is convinced that she would have turned to the gangs or the other diversions on the streets of Washington.

For this, she said, she will always be indebted to librarians. Even today, she remains in awe of us. As she said this, I could see the the audience -- primarily school and public librarians -- was moved by her words.

At the conclusion of her talk, I turned to the corporate librarian with whom I was sitting and we almost burst out laughing together. Could Ms. Muse possibly have meant to include us as the objects of her esteem? We, who spend most of our workdays billing out our time to help maintain the bottom line of our employers? We, who by delivering information in a timely and accurate manner help our attorneys get their business clients off the hook, and in doing so maintain the clients' bottom line?

I have no ready answers, but as I walked down the hill toward downtown Berkeley that beautiful day in April, I had lots of questions.

Standing Committee Amends By-Laws

The Standing Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues has voted this Spring to amend their bylaws. Starting this year, all Standing Committee members must join the Social Responsibilities SIS and pay annual dues.

This move should boost the membership of the SIS and provide for additional funding. The vote is also a show of support for the SIS.

The Standing Committee also voted to spend the interest money of the Holoch Bequest on scholarships.

Prisons Online: Versuslaw Demonstration

Versuslaw will be giving a vendor discussion regarding their pilot project with the Wasington State Prison Library System. This will be held on Wednesday morning from 9:00 - 10:00 during the Anaheim Annual Meeting.

Versuslaw has come up with a unique and inexpensive way to provide case law online without giving access to the internet.

Come find out how prison libraries can be moved into the computer age. If you have questions, or would like more information please contact: Jim Corbett at (888) 377-8752 ext. 3024. Or email him: jcorbett@versuslaw.com.