LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Library Journal decided to ask a veteran Alaska librarian about some of the issues raised (libraries procedure for banning books) when Sarah Palin was chosen as McCain's running mate. Charlotte Glover is the children's librarian at the Ketchikan Public Library, and the state Chapter Councilor for the American Library Association. She’s been publicly critical of Palin, but, as the interview shows, she thinks collection decisions should be local.

LJ : "Do you think Wasilla will accept the donated copies of Heather and Daddy's Roommate?"

Glover: "I don't know the current Wasilla library director (K. J. Martin). It would be nice to see that library make a big splash to the media about having these controversial titles, but I don't think that will happen, nor should it necessarily. Wasilla is still the bible belt of Alaska. The vast majority of the library patrons there really might be THAT conservative, so what is the librarian to do then? It's a fine art to read a community, and expand their minds, without getting thrown out of town!"

Not ready to deal with all those weighty tomes about the Presidential candidates? Maybe you should check out the two super-contenders in comic book form:

Authors of comic books on Barack Obama and John McCain (Jeff Mariotte (also a bookstore owner) and Andy Helfer respectively) will be signing their comix at bookstores in NY and LA next week.

Both books have been published by IDW. The company claims to be "pleased to present a unique venture in the history of comics publishing: a pair of graphic biographies featuring the presumptive Presidential candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties."

This is an unusual time with so many national elections occurring within roughly the same time span. Within the Anglosphere, the following elections are coming up in next several weeks:

• Canada - October 14th
• United States - November 4th
• New Zealand - November 8th

Barring a dissolution of Parliament being advised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the United Kingdom or the federal government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd losing confidence or supply in Australia those are the three main election contests to come.

The next several weeks are going to be quite interesting. While coverage of the US presidential contest will likely dominate news worldwide, two other nations have their own high-stakes elections where their respective premiers may lose power potentially. Could a President Obama wind up talking to a Canadian Prime Minister Jack Layton? Could a new New Zealand Prime Minister named John Key be required to speak to a President McCain? Only time will tell.

As to library policy, I know that in the platforms put forward by the Democratic and Republican parties in the US the word "library" is only mentioned once. That mention came in a paragraph in the Democratic Party document about expanding the availability of broadband Internet to libraries and similar entities. The Republican Party's platform document never mentioned libraries directly. As for elections outside the United States, securing copies of platforms is not an easy task.

Palin is in Omaha giving a speech as I write this. I did not attend the speech but I did go over to see the circus outside the civic center. There were several thousand people in line to see the speech. Across the street there were around a dozen Obama supporters with signs. I thought they would have a more robust showing but in the big picture there was not much point to being there at all. Anybody in line at a Palin event is unlikely to be swayed by someone across the street with a sign. One sign read "Welcome to Obamaha". Another read "I wear lipstick but I will never vote for you". I was hoping someone was going to have a "Golly gee I am not voting for you" or "Gosh darn I a voting for Obama" sign.

Here are some of the pictures:
People in line
Obama supporters
Obama supporter close-up
Other side of building. The line went around the building.

I was hoping that McCain would pick Ms. South Carolina as his running mate.

Not yet in print, but already journalist Gwen Ifill is getting trouble for her forthcoming book about black American politicians.

In mid-August, shortly after the Commission on Presidential Debates named Gwen Ifill of PBS as a moderator of the coming vice-presidential event, she wrote an essay in Time magazine that identified her as the author of a coming book, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.”

A couple of weeks later, an article in The Washington Post about her moderating duties described the book as focusing on “the Democratic nominee and such up-and-coming black politicians as Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Newark Mayor Cory Booker.”

But on the eve of the debate, Ms. Ifill and her book became the fresh object of outrage on conservative talk radio, blogs and cable news after a right-leaning Web site, WND.com, posted an article late Tuesday with the headline, “VP debate moderator Ifill releasing pro-Obama book.”

Isn't it possible for a responsible and professional journalist to remain neutral in a situation such as this? One would certainly hope so. Do we really think that Walter Cronkite or Tim Russert or Anna Quindlen never had a leaning in one direction or another? NYTimes reports.

This was pointed out to me by Liana Lehua via Twitter:

Nevada is one of those states referenced where voting registration wraps up on October 4th.

American Public Media released a widget called "Select a Candidate" to give an informal look at where one's own beliefs stack up against the candidates seeking the US presidency. The poll is not scientific but it is a way to open the engagement process. The widget is available for embedding in web pages such as any online pathfinders libraries might make regarding the election.

An embedded copy of the widget can be seen by clicking "Read more" below.

From Guardian UK:The London home of the UK publisher of a controversial new novel "The Jewel of Medina" that gives a fictionalised account of the Prophet Muhammad's relationship with his child bride, Aisha, was firebombed yesterday, hours after police had warned the man that he could be a target for fanatics. A petrol bomb is believed to have been thrown through the door of Martin Rynja's £2.5m town house in Islington's Lonsdale Square, which also doubles as the headquarters of his publishing company, Gibson Square. Three men were arrested.

The book was originally to be published in the US by Random House, who later withdrew it's offer to author Sherry Jones. It will be published next month in the US by Beaufort Books, a small press that also published "If I Did It".

Rynja commented, :"I was completely bowled over by the novel and the moving love story it portrays,' he said earlier this month. 'I was struck by the careful research of Sherry Jones, who is a journalist with almost 30 years of experience, and her passion for the novel's characters. I immediately felt that it was imperative to publish it. In an open society there has to be open access to literary works, regardless of fear."

A landlord in St. Petersburg asked his tenant to remove his McCain sign becuase he did not want it on his property.

The landlord and tenant had a discussion and resolved it in a civil manner.

Read this from BayNews9 to see what really happened.

Google has created an interesting tool comparing McCain's and Obama's
statements reported in the press on numerous topics from abortion to taxes.

Only five topics are shown on the Web page at one time. To change topics shown click a new topic in the list at the top of the page.