Library that lets you take out people who are left on the shelf

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/25/wdutch25.xml

By David Rennie in Brussels
(Filed: 25/08/2005)

A public library in Holland has been swamped with queries after unveiling plans to "lend out" living people, including homosexuals, drug addicts, asylum seekers, gipsies and the physically handicapped.


The volunteers will be borrowed by users of the library, in Almelo, who can take them to a cafeteria, and ask them any questions they like for up to an hour, in a scheme designed to break down barriers and combat prejudice.

The library's director, Jan Krol, said yesterday he had been deluged with requests from prospective borrowers after his project was reported in the Dutch media.

Almelo, a prosperous town of 72,000 people in the Twente region of east Holland, is not known as a hotbed of Amsterdam-style liberalism.

The people-lending scheme was conceived as a local project, designed to encourage the solid burghers of Almelo to make contact with members of ethnic minorities and other marginalised members of society but caught the imagination of the Dutch press.

"It has caused a lot of interest, a lot of people have already called with questions like: do I need a library card?" said Mr Krol.

Borrowers of people will not need a card, he said, though one will remain necessary for more prosaic items, such as books. There will be no fines for returning people late, he added.

"Most meetings will last 45 minutes, we imagine. You can ask anything you like, but racist or strong language is not allowed. To avoid unpleasantness, all meetings must take place in the library café."

Mr Krol, who said he was inspired by a similar scheme in Sweden, has already filled many of his volunteer slots, and hopes to launch the project next month.

He said: "I've got several gay men, a couple of lesbian women, a couple of Islamic volunteers, I've got a physically handicapped woman, and a woman who has been living on social security benefits for many years in real poverty. "

Mr Krol said he was especially keen to find members of Holland's small Roma gipsy community after a recent attack on two gipsy families in the city of Enschede.

Under the scheme, photographs and short biographies of the volunteers will appear in the library, and on its website. Library users who wish to take a person out can apply for an appointment. Mr Krol said he had not cleared the scheme with his municipal bosses.

"Oh, I never ask the council before I do anything," he said. "And there are no costs at all, only two cups of coffee."

drennie@telegraph.co.uk

Remarks of Sen. Richard Durbin

Source: Congressional Record, July 29, 2005, S9561.
Remarks of Sen. Richard Durbin (IL) during debate on the USA PATRIOT
AND TERRORISM PREVENTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005.

"Let me say a word as I close. One of the most unlikely groups became so
important in this debate--the American Library Association. I cannot recall
a time in recent memory when this organization showed such leadership. Time
and again, they came forward to tell us that they wanted to protect the
privacy of their patrons at libraries across America who might come in and
take out a magazine or book, and they certainly didn't want to do that with
the knowledge that the Government could sweep up all of the library records
and sift through them to see if anybody had checked out a suspicious book.
They sent us petitions gathered from libraries across the Nation, and I
think they really did good work on behalf of our Constitution and our rights
and liberties guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. I wish to dedicate any
success we have with this revision of the PATRIOT Act to the American
Library Association and all those who stood with them in asking that we make
meaningful changes to the act without eliminating the important provisions
that continue to make America safe."

Google Isn't Everything

Digital Tools
Google Isn't Everything
Stephen Manes, 08.15.05, 12:00 AM ET


"In the mood for beach reading, an audiobook, homework help or stock research? Your public library offers them free via the Net right now."

"In the age of Google, when we wonder about stuff we want instant answers. I happened to wonder about the first recorded use of the term "personal computer," so I Googled around and ended up at Wikipedia, the hit-or-miss user-developed encyclopedia, whose "personal computer" entry declared authoritatively that "The earliest known use of the term was in New Scientist magazine in 1964, in a series of articles called ‘The World in 1984.'"

"I still don't know the answer to my question, but I do know--no thanks to Google--that Wikipedia got it wrong. That's because I found an earlier citation with the help of an even older purveyor of information: my public library. And I didn't have to move an inch to do it."


Rest of the Forbes.com Magazine Article...