oh Library of Congress, I am sorry you are not leading the way

Erica says it better than I can — regarding the discrimination lawsuit the Library of Congress lost because it rescinded a job offer from a hired applicant who disclosed that he was transitioning into becoming a woman — “Hey, Library of Congress. Cut that shit out.” Thanks to the wonders of YouTube you can hear Diane Schroer herself talking about transgender discrimination.

Judith Krug, 1940 – 2009 champion of intellectual freedom

We’re starting National Library Week on a bittersweet note with an obit in Library Journal for Judith Krug. Judith Krug was a huge personal inspiration for me since before I even started library school. She had been the head of the ALAs Office for Intellectual Freedom since before I was born. She was a no compromise defender of intellectual freedom, and a very politically minded and savvy woman who showed us all how it’s done. She had to put up with an incredible amount of nonsense and vitriol by people who did not agree with her positions and yet she kept fighting for the rights guaranteed by the Constitution includng the rights of children. Here are a few links to neat things by/about her that you might want to read and reflect on.

Her energy, humor and tireless spirit will be sorely missed.

Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers

Library Journal has once again made the Movers and Shakers list look nice but not be super useful in the online world. I like seeing everyone’s photos. I’d prefer to get a copy/pasteable list of names. Here’s everyone [taken from the total list and grepped to only include this year’s winners] and links to their LJ profile. If someone would like to add personal site URLs to this, please feel free to copy/paste/repurpose. Whoops, looks like Bobbi Newman had already done it, yay!

Maureen Ambrosino
Kenning Arlitsch
Barry Bailey
Brian Bannon
Rebecca M. Blakeley
Erik Boekesteijn
Chad Boeninger
Jill Bourne
J. Drusilla Carter
Natalie Caruso
Susan Conlon
Karen Coombs
Kim Duckett
Carlene Engstrom
Ann Dutton Ewbank
Lia Friedman
Dean Giustini
Toby Greenwalt
Jason Griffey
Carey Gross
Lisa Harris
William Harmer
Sarah Houghton-Jan
Ingrid Kalchthaler
Nancy J. Keane
Karen Kleckner Keefe
Casey Long
Laverne Mann
Daniel Marcou
Jamie Markus
Matt L. Moran
Joe Murphy
Rebecca Near
Kristi L. Palmer
Dave Pattern
Ken Pienkos
Michael Porter
Lauren Pressley
Lori Reed
Melissa L. Rethlefsen
Jenica P. Rogers-Urbanek
Lisa G. Rosenblum
Dorothea Salo
Allison Santos
Julie Scordato
Pam Sessoms
Koren Stembridge
Jaap Van De Geer
Geert Van Den Boogaard
Rachel Walden
Carlie Webber

SAA’s Equal Opportunity/Non-Discrimination Policy

Just a little “yay team” note, the Society for American Archivists has added language to their non-discrimination policy protecting people in “gender identity/expression,” “religion,” “sexual orientation,” and “veteran status” categories from discrimination. The policy is here with a strong support statement; some bloggish discussion here (and see the previous post linked form that one) and here. [via]