Confessions of a Mad Librarian

important to make counter-models, but also make arguments not based on economics/value -- "there are things that should not be evaluated just on an economic [basis]."

Important to go beyond current market models back to earlier political economy; cultural democracy as a core value

Arguments based on: commons as essential component of democracy; broader welfare of society

ALA needs to go towards the open access/Creative Commons model with its own intellectual property

The spectrum and the commons -- how do we maintain it; what infrastructure, protection, norms, governance does it get/build

Maintaining the commons means making sure that things enter the commons -- such as the public domain; for-profit and scholarly access is not an either/or proposition

As publishers shift from print to print/online to print only, how does the pre-print access work?

There is a fundamental conflict between market and conflict; if ALA is going to be a player, it has to change its policies regarding 1) copyright sign-offs and 2) continued retention of Jenner and Block

We have to speak out, educate ourselves and learn more about 1) the bigger picture and 2) individual actions

Why can't ALA create its own commons?

Must look at policy issues as well

Metaphor of the commons and the reality of the commons -> look at the philosophy and best practices

Public space as the commons; "the library is the original information commons" - Nancy Kranich

Info Commons workshop in Cerritos at the Cerritos Public Library in March 2004; conference centre on the third floor

Economic pressures on the physical space of public libraries as a part of the commons

Looking at art spaces and as a commons example

Larry Lessig at ALISE -- intellectual property and how it inhibits innovation and creativity

Creating the narrative to change notions of property

Moral rights -- separate from economic rights (ex.: attribution rights, association rights)

Moral rights cut both ways, usually a benefit, but can be a detriment -- can be used to stop parody or satire based on derivative works

Examples of commons aren't comprehensively catalogued, but there are working definitions and identifiers of commons

Important not to inflate community with commons

Public and school librarians also need to be part of this work/committee

Proposal -- one of the largest encroachment on the commons has been CTEA, which is keeping a large amount of material out of the public domain; 50-100 librarians holding a protest against Disney's role in CTEA at DisneyWorld, with signs that violate the copyright on Mickey

Entire issue on School Library Journal on Knowledge Quest and the information commons(?)