RFID Protest Rally
City Council Meeting
Tuesday February 8, 2005,
Organize to Stop Berkeley Public Library Layoffs &
Cuts in Services
The Board of Library Trustees
met January 26 to an overflowing room of angered and concerned citizens
and union members. The Library Director, Jackie Griffin, claimed to
be concerned about providing good service to library users. In truth,
her vision is a fully-automated library with less staff. Are we ready
to loose the human touch and face longer lines?
- What impact will the Director’s Dream Library
have on our children? With fewer staff in the big, new
main library building, can parents feel confident that their kids
will be safe in the library?
- Will the Director’s Dream Library close the digital
divide? NO! This nightmarish proposal will have Berkeley
Public Library more available to computer owners and users. Increasing
amounts of specialized services and information are available
“24/7” to home-computer users, while others only have
access during the library’s shrinking open hours. Tech-savvy
people might coast through, but the rest will be left behind with
fewer public service staff available to help us.
- Did you know that the Director’s Proposal calls
for 14 or more layoffs to long-term public sector staff? At the same time, high-paying Management jobs - - for people sitting
behind desks in offices-- are being added!
- Did you know the library has been pursuing a policy
of ultra-aggressive weeding? Apparently, 3,000 books
have already been tossed from the 300’s section. Seems like
a strange time to cut books out of the collection when money available
is diminishing! Plus, the staff who know those subjects best are
being “reorganized” with duties “reassigned.”
What will tossing these books, and laying off the staff that cares
about them, do to your intellectual freedom? Meanwhile,
Director Griffin is sinking her talons into your civil liberties!
- Did you know that Radio Frequency Identification Devices
(RFIDs) are now busily being inserted into each library book? This technology, which John Ashcroft would love, will
enable a book to be tracked without your knowledge. The American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and citizen’s groups have successfully
stalled RFID installation in San Francisco Public Library.
WAKE UP, BERKELEY! THE NIGHTMARE
IS HERE!
This is the library we will have if the Director’s plan
is approved. If you are concerned about library services, privacy,
and retaining the community based library we know and love, act
now: Exercise your democratic rights while you still can on
More information...
SuperBOLD (Super
Berkeleyans Organizing for Library Defense)
P.O. Box 154, Berkeley, CA 94701
EMAIL: berkeleylibrarydefense@yahoo.com ....Telephone....510.843.2152
http://libraryadvocates.org/
Press: Newspaper
Articles/Editorials/Commentary
Rally speakers include...
Funky Nixons....entertainment
Gene Bernardi.... M.C.
Jeffry Mittman....ACLU
Peter Warfield....Library Users Association
Marcia Lamore....SEIU Labor 535
Raymond Turner....Upsurge
Doug Loranger, SF Neighborhood Antenna Free Union SNAFU
Lee Tien....Electronic Frontier Foundation
Maxina Ventura.... entertainment
Phoebe Sorgen...Social Justice Committee-Fellowship of Unitarians
Leuren Moret...Geophysicis
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