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By Sean Patrick Lyons. While all three citizens were ultimately able to obtain the information they sought...



By Sean Patrick Lyons.
While all three citizens were ultimately able to obtain
the information they sought...
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/098/west/Access_denied%2b.shtml

Read Sean Patrick Lyons at the above link.

Please consider these matters of denial of service at
 our cities' public libraries Departments
 Reference Desks.

Our Regional and Massachusetts Library of Last Recourse
 so called, City of Boston Public Library Departments
 Reference Desks have censored their very own
 curatorial reports with respect to collection
 development. The reports compiled by BPL curatorial
 personnel, related reports and consultants' reports
 are sources of information, descriptive bibliography
 about our public library collections.

 For example, BPL Government Documents Department
 Reference Desk and Social Sciences Department
 Reference Desk even have denied service by not
 providing alternatives to the information from other
 sources which when information can not be provided
 you would think would be done routinely.

Ironically, BPL Social Sciences Department Curator
 Mary Francis O'Brien is on a state board delegated
 with responsibilities in the matter, the Massachusetts
 Historical Records Advisory Board
 http://www.state.ma.us/sec/arc/arcaac/aacinfo.htm

 Mary Francis O'Brien has yet to return a call with
 respect to the BPL Social Sciences Reference Desk
 curatorial reports and has inappropriately made denial
 of service at the Reference Desk a response, refusing
 to engage discussion of the request because it isn't a
 reference question. How bizarre!

Counterintuitively, BPL Research Catalog Department
 Officer Dorothy Keller attempted to put forth a
 turnabout, a false unconfirmed accusation of racism
 merely as one tactic for denial of service. Our BPL
 climate is one of qualifying for access by giving
 the right answers to questions that don't pertain
 to the information.

BPL President Bernie Margolis delegated Operations
 Director Ruth Kowal with responsibility for Reference
 Desk requests.
 http://www.bpl.org/WWW/news/directors.html

 BPL has reported individual users of our public
 library Reference Desk and their requests to City Hall
 contrary to principles of Reference Desk services and
 a tactic to deter public library users.
 http://www.ala.org/rusa/stnd_behavior.html

 BPL has attempted to extort user fees for access,
 another tactic for denial of service.

Attempts to send comment, concerns, suggestions and
 questions about the matter have not been considered
 legitimate reference desk questions, another denial of
 what would be considered customer services excellence.

Theoretically, our cities' public libraries represent
 alternatives when you need information about City
 Hall. But BPL and other cities' public libraries flout
 intellectual freedom principles with denial of service
 at Departmental Reference Desks not only to public
 library users but also public library personnel and
 public library unions collective bargaining units
 labor relations advocates hypocritically.

BPL Government Documents Curator Gail Fithian hasn't
 included city public library departments own public
 documents in the collection development program
 directly. Boston needs a transmittal policy for City
 Hall public documents to our public library. City
 Clerk Rosaria Salerno hasn't made City Council minutes
 available even though public stenographic recorders,
 services already used at the City Council, have the
 technology that could make minutes available on the
 city web links in a manner most timely.

Our BPL President should advocate for a City Hall
 Reading Room with primary sources, city public
 documents at hand and more extensive web links with
 City government documents. It's logically part of a
 robust public libraries department program.
 Interactivity, where people interested, concerned or
 affected by the information can submit requests for it
 should be a part of more robust city public libraries
 departments program for customer services excellence
 and maybe even as one way of promoting to talented
 people potential careers around public service issues.

Masschusetts Library Commissioners like John Arnold
 have responsibility for disseminating information
 about these matters of denial of service to our
 cities' public libraries Reference Desks
 http://mlin.lib.ma.us



oo__ dWs

Guide to Problematical Boston Public Library Library Use
http://GuideToProblematicalLibraryUse.WebLogs.com/stories

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