Border Action Network. No. 438.

The movement for human rights is growing and Border Action Network is building the infrastructure to take the movement forward no matter what happens in Congress in the next weeks. We are creating human rights committees to defend immigrants' and border residents' human rights and make changes locally and nationally to transform our communities into places where everyone leads lives with dignity. We invite you to join our struggle. Donate today.



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Border Action Network formed in 1999 to ensure that those who are most impacted by border and immigration policies are at the forefront of movements calling for human dignity and civil rights and have the power to insert their voices into the local, regional and national policy debates that impact their lives on a daily basis.

Border Action Network is immigrants and border residents in Nogales, Douglas and Tucson working to ensure that our rights are protected, our human dignity respected and that our communities are healthy and safe places to live. We are a membership-based organization that combines grassroots community organizing, leadership development, litigation and action.

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Social Exclusion Framework for Service. A Librarian at the Kitchen Table. No. 437.

John Gehner, Coordinator
Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force (HHPTF)
has written this post at the Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force site:

As our poverty task force has documented, U.S. libraries have been slow to adopt the social-exclusion framework for public service. See, for example, the "Open to All?" research.

Librarians who are seeking community-building models can benefit tremendously from projects launched in Great Britain and Canada. Through national campaigns, these countries promote relationships between library staff and traditionally excluded groups. The resulting collaborations create more useful programs and services and more cohesive communities.

Here are two new sites and two informative articles worth your time:

Canada's Working Together Project

Great Britain's Welcome to Your Library project

John Pateman
"Tackling Social Exclusion in Libraries" (2005) [pdf]
http://www.librarianactivist.org/socexclusion.pdf

Annette DeFaveri
"Breaking Barriers: Libraries and Socially Excluded Communities" (2005)
[pdf] http://libr.org/isc/articles/21/9.pdf

For more background on these and other resources, visit the Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force (HHPTF)website.
http://www.hhptf.org

John Gehner, Coordinator
Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force (HHPTF)
Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT)
of the American Library Association (ALA)
jgehner@hhptf.org
http://www.hhptf.org
http://www.libr.org/srrt



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Immigrant Rights to Access to Information. A Librarian at the Kitchen Table. No.436.

ALA Council passes resolution in support of immigrant rights to access to information

(CHICAGO) At the American Library Association (ALA) 2007 Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, January 19 - 24, the ALA Council adopted a resolution in support of immigrant rights to access to information. The resolution states that: "America's immigrants are a strong and valuable part of the social fabric of this nation. The library community opposes all attempts at the local, state and federal level to restrict access to information by immigrants."

The resolution:

* supports the protection of each person's civil liberties, regardless of that individual's nationality, residency, or status; and

* opposes any legislation that infringes on the rights of anyone in the USA or its territories, citizens or otherwise, to use library resources, programs, and services on national, state, and local levels.

The 182-member ALA governing body passed ALA CD#20.2 on January 22, 2007.

Here is the ENTIRE DOCUMENT:
2006-2007 ALA CD#20.2
2007 ALA Midwinter Meeting


Resolution in Support of Immigrant Rights

WHEREAS, America’s immigrants are a strong and valuable part of the social fabric of this nation; and

WHEREAS, The ALA Library Bill of Rights states that the person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views; and

WHEREAS, The library community opposes all attempts at the local, state and
federal level to restrict access to information by immigrants; and

WHEREAS, Restriction of access is a direct violation of the ALA Library Bill of Rights and Policy #60, Diversity, which states that “The American Library Association (ALA) promotes equal access to information for all persons and recognizes the ongoing need to increase awareness of and responsiveness to the diversity of the communities we serve”; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That ALA strongly supports the protection of each person’s civil liberties, regardless of that individual’s nationality, residency, or status; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That ALA opposes any legislation that infringes on the rights of anyone in the USA or its territories, citizens or otherwise, to use library resources, programs, and services on national, state, and local levels.”






Adopted by the American Library Association Council
Wednesday, January 22, 2007
Seattle, Washington




Source: ALA Web site: http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governanceb/council/councildocuments/mwmtg2007.htm.

Mental Health Care. A Librarian at the Kitchen Table. No. 435.

NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, presents this first comprehensive state-by-state analysis of mental health care systems in 15 years. Every U.S. state has been scored on 39 specific criteria resulting in an overall grade and four sub-category grades for each state. The national average grade is D. Five states receive grades in the B range. Eight receive Fs. None received As.

Full Report in pdf

Neil Young Living with War; SONGS OF THE TIMES. A Librarian at the Kitchen. No. 434.

Living with War

Neal Young:

The venerable left-leaning musician, known for his brazenly anti-war sentiments, has produced an album that addresses the confusion, chaos, and anger surrounding this post-Iraq era. Canadian Young has never shied from any topic--this is the man who, after all, prompted to Lynyrd Skynyrd to pen "Sweet Home Alabama" after Young's "Southern Men" derided the racism of the American South. The release of Living with War prompted a fury of controversy and media attention that Young hadn't encountered in nearly a decade, but all the hoopla missed the point that this is perhaps the artist's most skillful work to date. The album still boasts Young's trademark political consciousness, but it also heralds a foray into musical philosophy that mixes rebellion and rock--tinged with soul and blues.

Neil Young's Garage.

Housing as a Human Right . A Librarian at the Kitchen Table. No. 433.

Homeless in St. Petersburgh, Florida. The police slash the tents of the homeless as described in "The Great St. Pete Homeless Tent Raid."

See video of police slashing tents.

While the Constitution of the United States ensures citizens many rights, housing is not one of them - although such a right has been advocated for many years. Shelterforce asked Chester Hartman and Rachel G. Bratt (co-editors of A Right To Housing, with Michael E. Stone) to discuss this notion of a "right to housing." Hartman, answering a series of questions, puts it into the context of other rights Americans expect.