[Publib] Ugly battle has librarians in Oak Brook turning to Teamsters

[James Casey]

Robert is right.  Libraries are conservative institutions in many respects.   Not the least of these is the cost effective manner in which libraries operate and deliver superb service to the community without running up huge deficits as many government leaders who call themselves "conservatives" have been content to do.

The word 'conservative' has been hijacked by anti-intellectuals - at least during the past 60 years in the U.S.A..
The McCarthy witch hunts and John Birch Society fear mongering of the 1950s has continued in many different forms.   As Libraries represent repositories of information and places of empowerment and learning for the masses, it isn't surprising the current breed of bullies who seek to instill fear and destructiveness still want to ban books, slash library budgets and do away with any thoughtful discourse.

James B. Casey - My own views

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Robert Balliot
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 8:29 AM
To: Kevin Okelly
Cc: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] Ugly battle has librarians in Oak Brook turning to Teamsters

I think it is always good to paraphrase the word 'conservative'.

To me, it is incredibly ironic how the word 'conservative' has been appropriated.
Libraries are one of the most conservative institutions.  They conserve and
preserve  resources.  They make materials and services available at a lower
cost and more efficiently that any other government institution.

The personality that the article addresses has always been around. It
is the same bully who extorts lunch money.  They go after anyone who will not
speak up.  You can't throw a rock without hitting one here.  And, they
scream with each rock you throw.

Rock on - Speak up!

R. Balliot
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com<http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/>




On Sat, Oct 31, 2009 at 9:06 AM, Kevin Okelly <KOkelly at minlib.net<mailto:KOkelly at minlib.net>> wrote:
"By the way, I forwarded that article to a couple of "conservative" men I
know.  They both commented that librarians shouldn't be paid very much
and that the library should simply throw open its doors, let people read
the books, and save lots of money on personnel expenses.  We should try
that for a couple of months and see what happens, eh?"
<shaking my head at human stupidity>


Kevin O'Kelly
Reference and Community Languages Librarian
Somerville Public Library
79 Highland Ave.
Somerville, MA 02143
(617)-623-5000


-----Original Message-----
From: Backwage at aol.com<mailto:Backwage at aol.com>
To: fostersm1 at gmail.com<mailto:fostersm1 at gmail.com>, melissa at mannon.org<mailto:melissa at mannon.org>
Cc: publib at webjunction.org<mailto:publib at webjunction.org>
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:30:45 EDT
Subject: Re: [Publib] Ugly battle has librarians in Oak Brook turning to
Teamsters
> I have seen lots of guys like this.  You tell them that they owe  a few
> hundred dollars in wages to their employees and they say:
>
> "I would rather pay a hundred grand to fight this then give in to a law
> I
> hate."
>
> And I am always happy to oblige them by making their lawyers wealthy,
> after
>  which they have to pay the few hundred in wages as well.
>
> Some people are simply vile.  Nearly all of them are men.  A good
> proportion of them are "self-made," which means that they used other
> people and any
> means to get on top, after which they spend their entire  lives lying
> about
> how they did it all alone against enormous odds and the  opposition of
> lesser folk.
>
> By the way, I forwarded that article to a couple of "conservative" men
> I
> know.  They both commented that librarians shouldn't be paid very much
> and
> that the library should simply throw open its doors, let people read
> the
> books,  and save lots of money on personnel expenses.  We should try
> that for a
> couple of months and see what happens, eh?
>
> M. McGrorty



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