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Tuesday 11 September 2001

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For Librarians...

Article from the front page of the Miami Herlad - 18 September 2001

A special thank you goes out to OCLC for cataloging this site via CORC.

Libraries & books in the News

ALA Policies, Statements, and Web Resources on Privacy and Confidentiality

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Do you have a poster from Grove on public display?

To the Lincoln Trail Libraries System Library Community.

We want to alert those libraries that subscribe to the Grove's 
Dictionaries that last week we sent posters to each of you to 
promote this service. The poster shows a whimsical Manhattan skyline 
in which the twin World Trade Towers are represented by two volumes 
of the Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and a plane is flying by 
them.  In light of the terrible tragedy that occurred today, we 
strongly urge all libraries to remove this poster from public 
display.

--Jan Ison

* * *

A response:

This is something I've been thinking about all week and I'd like to 
put out to the LIBNET subscribers.  Does taking down a poster with 
the WTC image erase the events of the past week?  Are we supposed to 
"airbrush" every image of New York from the 70s to September 11, 2001 
and pretend the WTC never existed and, along with it, the people who 
worked there and visited there and, sadly, died there?  My husband 
and I have spent the last week remembering a Thanksgiving visit, 2 
years ago, when we stayed opposite the Trade Center.  It was a typical 
NY visit; bitter cold and windy.  But we retreated to the basement 
shops of the Trade Center and found a great subterranean mall. There 
was also a terrific view from Battery Park (just in back of the WTC) 
of the Statue of Liberty.  Good symbolism there.  There is also a 
lovely Revolutionary Era cemetery on the corner (across from a good 
deli) that is now buried under debris.  We are sad but, truthfully, 
I don't think I want to forget the places or the people who served us.
I'm old enough and East Coast enough to remember the fight, years ago, 
about how the Trade Center was going to dwarf the Empire State 
Building. People weren't crazy about making the Empire State Building 
obsolete in that way.  But the WTC became part of the skyline and, at 
least until there is something to replace it, it might be nice to keep 
a few of the old images around, don't you think?

Lois Gross

Congressional Research Service Needs Help From Librarians

Good afternoon.
I don't usually post, mostly read. Today I have a favor to 
help from any list member  who isn't already swamped, or who 
would be willing to assist at this time as we in the 
Congressional Research Service gather materials to support 
our Terrorism Response team which is doing analysis and research
for Congress. Bioterrorism research (or responses to any 
terrorism within the U.S.) .. see below for details.

As a reference librarian in the Congressional Research Service, 
I have benefitted greatly from following your discussion/learning 
from your expertise. [My technical knowledge and  html coding is 
minimal and my Dreamweaver use a great help toward developing 
intranet resources. I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Drew and 
a few others at the Computers in Libraries Conference in DC last 
spring.]  I spend most of my time in searching various databases 
and print resources to answer requests for Congressional Research 
Service subject analysts (special library within the CRS, within 
L.C.)  

Our office does information support for subject analysts who 
assist the Committees and individual members. As you can imagine, 
in this past week, we have had an exponential growth in RUSH needs.

Here's what I'd like from anyone who is able as we gather 
information for the Terrorism Response Team's needs :  Please email 
your responses  NOT to the list, but directly to me, at:

esutterlin@crs.loc.gov 

We have been gathering reports from various databases and the web, 
as well as our own catalog, of significant/substantial/seminal/
scenario-type.. (you get the idea)  publications pertaining to 
Bioterrorism. 
 
As you know, not all publications will show up easily, and it would 
be very helpful to know of the most valuable resources-- our EXPERTS 
across the U.S.  who have written in this area or who are working 
on the subject now. So, From your own  Universities or institutions, 
anyone who can share names of individuals and/or copies of their 
reports/publications who has done work on Bioterrorism in 2000 or 
2001, We in CRS are Very Interested in having your help in identifying 
these resources. If their phone/email contact is not confidential/
internal, we would appreciate having that as well. 

Although Bioterrorism is our current  urgent info-gathering focus, 
if you have time or personnel to address any reports/experts from 
your institution in the areas of cyberterrorism or U.S. response 
capability/preparedness to deal with terrorism within the U.S., 
that would also be useful.

We've gone through LC catalog searching and a number of commercial 
databases, but have not had time yet to do any combing of the .edu 
resources for names or publications.

Please Feel free to attach URLs or pdf or wpd (or even notepad or 
doc) attachments if you have copies of significant publications 
that you think might be useful to CRS.  

Thank you in advance.
Edith Sutterlin

Neal-Schuman

09/17

Just a quick note to let you  know that everyone at Neal-Schuman
is safe and sound.
Our office is just two blocks north of Canal Street. On Tuesday,
we were close enough to witness the destruction of the WTC but not
in any immediate physical danger.
We were evacuated that day. Today is the first day we've been 
allowed to return.
It's really amazing to be another soul walking from the subway 
to work this morning in New York City!
Thanks to everyone for their good wishes.
Michael Kelley

Pentagon Library

09/12

The plane that hit the Pentagon hit near Ann's office.  Ann received 
2nd degree burns on her face and has a broken toe.  Dawn Humphrey was
not in the Pentagon at the time.
We will send more later.  I can not reach the army listserv from my
computer at home.  Could someone forward this, so that all the army
librarians will know that Ann is OK.
--Carla Pomager

OCLC

09/17

Digital Island access to the OCLC FirstSearch service has been 
restored. Thank you for your patience during the brief service 
interruption.
09/17

Just a note to inform you that the OCLC PAIS server connection 
was knocked out by the horrible events of Tuesday, Sept 11, in 
NYC.  The last time the server transmitted was 6:00 pm, 9/11/01.
Please forward any messages since that time to this e-mail address 
spruilld2@oclc.org
If you have a message you wish to send to anyone else at PAIS, 
please send to me and I will forward.
Thank you very much.

Regards,
Debra Brown-Spruill
Executive Director
OCLC PAIS

Baker & Taylor

09/12

The Internet Service Provider that provides access to all of the 
Baker & Taylor/Informata web and FTP sites is located in New York 
City, just a short distance from the World Trade Center. Since the 
disaster, no commercial power has been available to any of these 
surrounding operations. Our ISP has been able to continue operations 
through the use of back-up generators.

It is possible that service may be interrupted from this facility 
over the next few days. Power may not be restored in the area for a 
while, and the ISP is having difficulties securing additional fuel 
for their generators. In case of such an interruption, access to all 
of our Internet services would be routed through a back-up facility 
in Philadelphia. This will allow us to continue providing these 
services, but capacity could be significantly reduced until the New 
York group is able to resume operation.

You may experience reduced access speed when using any of the Baker 
& Taylor/Informata websites. These include Bibliostat Collect, 
Bibliostat Connect and theLibraryPlace.com. In addition, downloads 
from or uploads to our FTP servers may also be affected.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. We will keep 
you notified as the situation progresses, and do everything that we 
can to insure that you have uninterrupted access to these services.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Michael Ervin, MLIS
Product Development Manager

One Librarian's Opinion

From Wired-MT, the Montana librarians' list

Colleagues:
 I was somewhat surprised about the reaction of some 
people to the discussion of the events that are racking 
our country.
 On September 11, 2001, a fundamental change occurred in 
America's view of the world, and itself. The repercussions 
of this change have not yet begun to unfold. After the shock 
and grief we all feel wears off, what will replace it? After 
watching news shows and analysis for the last several days, 
one thing is clear - our idea of freedom, and how that freedom 
is exercised is about to undergo a radical transformation, and 
not for the better.
 As librarians, and interested parties who support freedom of 
information, we should be extremely wary of many of the "fixes" 
which are likely to be proposed by our representatives in 
Washington to secure our country. Those people who would abridge 
our freedom of expression and our access to information, whether 
they be on the left or right wings of the political spectrum, 
now have an opportunity unprecedented in this country's history, 
to make that abridgment a reality cloaked in the mantle of 
national security. While surely we must react to the atrocities 
perpetrated upon our nation, we must be careful of not letting 
those who hate us and our freedom win by curtailing the very 
freedom they hate.
 The CIPA legislation may well end up seeming downright libertarian
compared with the possibilities before us. For librarians and 
supporters of intellectual freedom to ignore these possibilities 
because of the painful way they have been thrust to the forefront 
is the worst of conceits; it pretends that things are the same as 
they were on September 10, and reminds one of Scarlett O'Hara who 
would "think about it tomorrow".
 I would urge those who are upset by the discussion to exercise 
the option of the delete key, but to pretend that our freedoms and 
our country's future course are not an appropriate topic on this 
listserv is folly. We may as well discuss how many angels can dance 
on a Dewey decimal point. 

Mike Hamlett
Miles City Public Library

From Librarians Abroad...

We have just learned of the tragic news of the events that have 
occurred today in Washington and New York and that have filled the 
people of the United States with grief (mourning) and pain and we 
would like to express to you our deepest condolences in this terrible 
time for your country.

The Cuban librarians feel, as does our entire nation, the suffering 
of the victims and their families as if it were our own and we want 
you to know our conviction that the high cultural and humanitarian 
principles that guide our profession will hopefully allow us to 
prevent such happenings in the future in any part of the world.

We reiterate our affection and respect,

Eliades Acosta Matos
Director, Jose Marti National Library
Havana, Cuba

* * *

Dear colleagues:

The President and Governing Board of IFLA and the staff at IFLA HQ,
wish to express our deepest sorrow to our members and friends in 
the United States for the lives lost in the terrible tragedies in 
New York, Pittsburgh and Washington. We have all been watching and 
reading about the events with horror and anxiety for your welfare.
We are unable to find adequate words to express our sadness, but 
we wish you to be assured that our thoughts and deepest sympathies 
are with you all. That we were with you so recently, experiencing 
your wonderful hospitality, makes it all the more poignant.

Events such as this serve to test our resolve, as library and 
information professionals, to cling to our ideals of freedom of 
information and commitment to cultural diversity. May we find 
the strength to do so.

Ross Shimmon
Secretary General
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

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