The September Project: An Invitation to Get Involved

this is not alex, it’s david silver. alex: thank you for letting us in and thanks for lending your brains throughout.

michael berube rules. his blog entry, written with soul, got Chuck Tryon and E. David Morgen to organize something, offline, in atlanta, on saturday, september 11. beautiful. does anyone have a contact with the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum? how great would it be have events on september 11 at a library named for an ex-president, a humanitarian, and a Nobel PEACE PRIZE winner?

a lot of people from a lot of places have blogged the project: Network-Centric Advocacy, smart mobs, kellyfaboo, librarian.net, george williams, Confessions of a Mad Librarian, Peter Levine, commons-blog, TechnoBiblio, Doctor Daisy, miscellany is the largest category, crooked timber, snark market, IDblog, Planned Obsolescence, hegemony rules, Alex Halavais, Blogalization, eskimo sandwich eaters, Kairosnews, Politicaonline.it, mediaTIC blog, Sapper’s (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves, Scrivenings, BreyLog, Library Stories: Libraries & Librarians in the News, Community Communication Project, what i saw today, Bitacora de las Indias, Aaron Delwiche, Dull Cutlery, Reconsidered, I’m Nobody–Who are you?, giorgious, Deliberative Democracy, Librarian Activist, too many topics, too little time, welcome to my world, Jenny’s Jesus Club, h20boro lib blog, Tech Soma, a crank’s progress, netbib weblog, Octeto – Tecnologia educativa, Langemarks Cafe, Weblogs in Higher Education, LibraryTechtonics, DrWeb’s Domain, Postmodern Hegemon, and eyeteeth.

i hope trackbacks work somehow, because there are great ideas out there.

michael’s post is great, especially in the way that he sees how we all can get involved. i want to add 3 things:

1. i think it’s important to note the types of libraries participating. they include: urban, small, and rural public libraries; primary and secondary school libraries; college, community college, and university libraries; bookmobiles; libraries for people with hearing and visual disabilities; seminary libraries; juvenile hall libraries; and domestic and overseas US military base libraries. can you imagine the kinds of exchanges they’ll have about citizenship at the Alameda County Library Youth Literacy Program at Juvenile Hall? or the kinds of exchanges they’ll have about democracy at the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni, Japan?

2. important: all events are free.

3. libraries are the core. but there’s a lot of other public spaces around us. (they’re shrinking, i know! and they’re getting less inspired. but they still exist, especially if you look for them.) so: anyone know any academics, activists, artists, youth (friends of michael’s sons: what are YOU doing on saturday, september 11?) who many want to get involved? anyone willing to post a message to any list for such folks? are interesting exchanges even happening on mailing lists these days?

sarah washburn’s jumping in too. i hope all of you will. one thing: if you have a critique of the project, post them. suggestions, post. question, post and maybe all of us can answer them. alex and frederick gave us some good critiques, and they made the project stronger.

david

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5 Comments

  1. Posted 7/28/2004 at 2:45 am | Permalink

    i totally agree about other public spaces. In particular PARKS! I live in Seattle and there is a park around every corner. The city is very supportive in having local events organized by neighbors. At least this is the case in the Central Area where I live. The city offers small grants and all kninds of networking help. I found all of this out by searching for my area neighborhood association online and making some calls.

  2. Posted 7/28/2004 at 3:19 am | Permalink

    Absolutely! Nothing gets a conversation going as well as a bar-b-q. Seattle is too spread out (or something) to have block parties the way they do in the east coast and parts of the mid-west.

    On the other hand, there is something about a library that makes it feel in some good ways “constrained.” That is, the park on a good day holds its own distractions. On the plus side, you might attract passer-bys, but on the negative side, it might lack the same kind of purposefulness that a library could engender. There is something especially civic, I think, about a local library.

  3. Posted 7/28/2004 at 8:36 pm | Permalink

    I’m going to talk to the Carter Center folks in the next few days (unless someone else has a better connection with them).

    I’ve already found several colleagues who are interested in participating and at least one other possible venue. I’ll keep everyone posted.

  4. Posted 7/28/2004 at 11:18 pm | Permalink

    Since I know that there are Buffalonians who are regular readers, if you are interested in organizing something at the UB libraries (possibly the Law Library?) for 9/11 do drop me a line. It could be something as simple as an open discussion of the PATRIOT act, or the role of academia in understanding and teaching citizenship. Drop me a note.

  5. Posted 8/3/2004 at 3:32 pm | Permalink

    Alex and all Buffalonians: have you consider contacting the Buffalo Newspaper Guild?
    http://www.buffalonewspaperguild.com/

2 Trackbacks

  1. By george.h.williams on 7/28/2004 at 9:07 pm

    the september project
    Many bloggers have been discussing an upcoming event called The September Project, “a collection of people, groups, and organizations working to create a day of engagement, a day of conversation, a day of democracy.” More details are found on the…

  2. By loans com on 6/19/2006 at 10:08 pm

    loans com…

    loans com
    F.S. Fitzgerald to Hemingway:
    “Ernest, the rich are different from us.”
    Hemingway:
    “Yes. They have more money.”

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