Gear up for "Choose Privacy Week"

Privacy is a particularly slippery and amorphous issue, about which people hold a wide variety of opinions and beliefs. By sparking a national conversation on privacy, Choose Privacy Week (May 2-8, 2010) will give people with different perspectives an opportunity to learn more about the issues, weigh in on choices with their fellow citizens, and consider options for action.

The ALA Membership Initiative Group, Libraries Fostering Civic Engagement is promoting public deliberation on the topic, “Who Do I Trust My Privacy To?” Using a discussion guide written by members, Nancy Kranich and Carolyn Caywood, participants will examine approaches to protecting privacy that relies on three possible strategies for protecting privacy. (Download discussion guide and other supporting materials here!)

The three options that participants will deliberate are:

Approach 1: The Marketplace

The marketplace is the source of innovation in security and privacy protection technology and it also has a vested interest in privacy that secures the integrity of financial data.

Approach 2: The Goverment

The government has a responsibility to provide for public safety which includes identity protection and to secure the rights necessary to a free society.

Approach 3: Myself

I, my self, recognize that privacy values are individual and varied and that no one cares more about my needs than me.

The Libraries Fostering Civic Engagement MIG is offering two free online workshops to help librarians convene forums, and to moderate community discussions on privacy in conjunction with Privacy Week, May 2-8, 2010.

Tips on Hosting a Deliberative Forum on Privacy

March 30, 2010
1:00 – 3:00 Central Time

This workshop will cover:

• the logistics for convening your forum,
• strategies you can use to build partnerships,
• ideas for marketing your forum,
• how to use your forum to meet the information needs of your patrons, and
• free and low-cost tools you can use to host a forum in your library

How to Moderate a Deliberative Forum on Privacy

April 13, 2010
1:00 – 3:00 Central Time

This workshop will cover:

• guidelines for participants in a deliberative dialogue,
• strategies to encourage participants to weigh the costs and consequences of different approaches to managing privacy,
• the art of crafting powerful and thoughtful questions,
• tips for dealing with people who talk too much or people who don’t speak up
• how to make your community conversation part of a national dialogue

If you have questions or comments, please leave them here in the comments section.

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NJ Gov. Christie’s budget calls for a 74% decrease in funding for statewide library services.

Below is an e-mail I received from a friend and former student who is the library director for Palisades Park Public Library in New Jersey. Many of the services that will cease to New Jersey residents are similar to those we receive in Texas. Thus far the Texas State Legislature has only requested a 5% budget reduction from state agencies, including the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, but there is no guarantee that this will be the last of the budget cuts to libraries. Read below for an example of what will happen if states are no longer able to fund the statewide institution that enables large and small public libraries to pool resources and enjoy economies of scale.

_______________________________________

NJ Gov. Christie’s budget calls for a 74% decrease in funding for statewide library services. 

This cut includes the elimination of ALL statewide library programs and services.  This will affect all types of libraries in New Jersey. Once state funding is eliminated, NJ will lose $4.5 million in federal funding.  Once state and federal funding are lost the impact will be felt by all residents.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU?
Have you ever requested a library item that was sent to your library from another library?  Delivery of materials is severely threatened in Governor Christie’s proposed budget.

• NJ resident’s access to electronic databases such as RefUSA and EBSCO will cease
• Statewide interlibrary loan and delivery of library materials will cease.
• Libraries will lose 50% of state aid at a time when demand for services is increasing dramatically.
• More than half of public libraries will lose access to the Internet.
• Many libraries will lose email service.
• Many libraries will lose their websites or access to them.
• The Talking Book and Braille Center (known as the Library for the Blind and
• Physically Handicapped) will close.
• Group contracts which bring down the cost of other electronic resources purchased by libraries will cease.

At the same time the state is eliminating funding for library programs. Assemblyman John DiMaio has introduced A2555 which eliminates the minimum local funding requirement for municipal public libraries.

The library programs eliminated from the Governor’s budget represent little more than $1 per capita in state funds.  Library programs have been flat funded by the state for 20 years so it is hard to believe these programs have caused the state’s current fiscal crisis.  Fatally weakening these programs will not solve the failures of legislative and executive decision-making of more than 30 years.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
If you have not already become a Library Champion for the library and automatically a BCCLS champion, please consider doing so. Click on this address for the registration form. http://www.bccls.org/champions/

For lobbying at the state level go to http://capwiz.com/ala/nj/home/ This will plug you directly into your elected officials at the state level

Help the statewide lobbying effort specifically by using the Facebook Save NJ Libraries Group.

Thanks again for all your past support and continuing use of one of democracy’s greatest inventions: the public library.

Your help is crucial for keeping New Jersey’s libraries funded.
—
Yours,

Palisades Park Public Library
257 Second Street
Palisades Park, NJ 07650
201-585-4150
http://palisadespark.bccls.org
…encouraging a lifetime love of learning

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