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Staff -- Library Journal, 9/1/2004
I trust John Berry speaks from experience with regard to his tolerance for the so-called gadfly element ("Another Damned Gadfly," Blatant Berry, LJ 7/04, p. 10). His empathy and/or support for them must have been earned from some real-life exposure to the contribution he believes they can make.
Here in San Francisco, the most democratic, progressive, and diverse of cities, we bend over backward to allow anyone to state their opinion in a public meeting. Public comment is not only allowed in general, it is allowed (three minutes) after every agenda item. Certain members of the public take advantage of every opportunity to speak. Often, this chance to contribute is a harangue, undifferentiated from one meeting to another, often not based in fact. At every commission meeting with two persistent critics present, we can rely upon six minutes per item—so for ten agenda items we will have one hour of a three-hour meeting for the contribution of two persons.
In other places, this would be known as a questionable use of everyone's time, but not here in San Francisco. It's actually encouraged. The statewide obligation for open meetings applies, but so too the local ordinance that makes the every-item-public-comment possible as well as a host of other items that oblige the library commission secretary to have to dedicate considerable time to handling requests for public documents. While the occasional request is…to be expected, there are some, including Berry's local hero, who make persistent and wide-ranging requests for public records in a search for some evidence of wrongdoing. (None has been found—you'd have done a story about it, and we'd have been prosecuted locally.)
Do we listen to our gadflies? Of course we do! More than anyone, anywhere else! In fact, we truly try to glean from their harangues some essential truths that actually have merit…. We'd prefer that such critics press their agenda with some care and that they be circumspect about creating unnecessary cost for the city and unnecessarily taking up the precious time of all concerned. Their often indulgent ruminations on what they'd prefer to see (in their narrow view) of library life undermines them. Some calibration of their contributions is very much needed for us to take them as seriously as you suggest.
—Charles A. Higueras, AIA, Pres., San Francisco Lib. Commission
I agree with Francine Fialkoff's commentary that a certain amount of caution is necessary in dealing with Christian fiction ("Selection Not Censorship," Inside Track, LJ 5/15/04, p. 69). A recent cover story in Newsweek on the "Left Behind" series follows extensive coverage on 60 Minutes and in other media. It is also worth noting that the LeftBehind.com web site and discussion list have been heavily promoting Mel Gibson's sadomasochist film The Passion of the Christ.
My main concern is that many Christian books promote violence against unbelievers. And these "unbelievers" are not just non-Christians. This term includes many Christians who are not evangelicals and/or fundamentalists. This is particularly true of "End-Times" novels where wicked "unbelievers" are punished with horrible violence.
—Earl Lee, Pittsburg State Univ., KS
If the American Library Association (ALA) and the exhibitors want to increase foot traffic in the exhibits ("Goodbye, Orlando?" LJ 8/04, p. 36–42), they have a simple way to do it—permit children when they are with their parents to enter the exhibit hall for free. Both my wife and I are librarians, and we are faced each year with either cutting into our time in the exhibits so that one of us can stay with our boys or skipping them altogether.
Even meeting for lunch involves arranging to meet outside the exhibit area and wasting time one of us could be using to talk to vendors. My repeated comments to ALA officials and exhibitors have always been met with sympathetic nods, comments about unaccompanied children (which is not the issue) and no action. This is a family-unfriendly policy that should be changed.
—Robert J. Belvin, New Brunswick Free P.L., NJ
Anyone who writes the drivel that there is a librarian shortage should be downsized and forced to look for a job. It happened to me. My Ivy League degree, Marquis Who's Who citing, and ten years in management only made me overqualified.
After a year-long search, I found an entry-level reference job in an inner city an hour from my home. I was grateful to find that. In two years of trying to find a better job in densely crowded areas of New Jersey, I found very few open positions and not much interest in my 46-year-old self.
To encourage more people to get into this low-paying field, with its few jobs and even fewer opportunities to advance once you get a job, is the height of irresponsibility….
—Ron Rizio, affiliation withheld upon request
