OLA Super Conference notes

I was at the OLA Super Conference last week, and attended two particularly cool sessions. I thought I would share some highlights from my notes with you!

Session # 418: Open Source and Libraries in the Developing World with Bess Sadler, Co-Chair for eIFL-Free and Open Source Software, University of Virginia; Randy Metcalfe, Program Manager of eIFL-FOSS, eIFL.net; Nasser Saleh, Integrated Learning Librarian, Queen's University:
What is eIFL-FOSS, you ask? Electronic Information for Libraries: Free and Open Source Software - see their website here.
Basically, "eIFL-FOSS advocates free and open source software (FOSS) use in libraries in developing and transition countries." Access in these countries is mainly via university and academic libraries, but there is some country-wide access in some places. What does eIFL-FOSS do? Negotiates price/availability of e-resources/databases with publisher (reduced price dependent on country GDP); library consortium-building/developing; raising awareness about open access; eIFL-IP (intellectual property and copyright issues in libraries); knowledge sharing (e-newsletter, conferences); OSS for libraries. Sometimes also involved in creating supporting documentation for software, pilots/case studies. Bess spoke about the concept of "free" software (versus "information imperialism"). Free means: "you are free to run the program; you are free to study and adapt the program to your needs; you are free to redistribute; you are free to improve the software and release your improvements (and the whole community benefits)." Examples were given of various commercial software products being unsuitable for many libraries (for example, countries in the former USSR can get software in Russian but not in their own language!). An academic librarian in Ghana tells Bess, "students in Ghana can view artifacts from Britain" - through the British Library's online collections - "more easily than they can artifacts from their own heritage." There was a fierce discussion at a conference Bess was at about importance of open source software in countries where access to basic food and medication is scarce: i.e., software doesn't solve these problems! No, but...where will skilled workers receive training/find relevant information? Comment from librarian from Africa: "if knowledge/information is available to all it will be part of the solution!" "The empowerment of citizens depends on equal access to information worldwide!"
Randy and Nasser spoke about some of the barriers to FOSS programs: technical and language barriers, economic barriers, socio/political barriers, and so on.
FYI:
FOSS blog
A summary of this session is also on the conference blog.

Session # 1600: Taking Opportunity from Oppression - and Courage from Confusion with Irshad Manji
A very moving session in which Irshad Manji talked about her experiences in libraries. She spoke fondly of librarians, and expressed kinship with us ("if we're not in the business to offend, then what are we?" she joked, referring to librarians' battles with censorship and her own battles with personal threats). She told us how, when she was kicked out of the madrassa she had been attending on Saturdays as a child, she turned to the public library for information about Islam. There she learned about Islamic inventions (mocha coffee!) and women prophets (including the prophet Mohammed's wife). She spoke about her decision to write The Trouble with Islam (after receiving an article about a Muslim girl who was sentenced to be whipped for being raped, even after she provided many male witnesses to the crime) and her experiences since writing the book. She mentioned that, just after completing the first edition, she interviewed Salman Rushdie (shortly after he began making public appearances in the late 90s after living under a fatwa for many years) and asked him why he would encourage her to write about Islam, knowing what had happened to him. He told her "a book is more important than a life." Once something is thought, he added, it cannot be unthought. It can be disagreed with, censored, debated, and so on, but it can't be unthought. She talked about arranging for Arabic, Urdu and Farsi translations of The Trouble with Islam after receiving an e-mail from a teenage boy in Jordan: he asked her to put the translation up on her website for free (which she did: there have been thousands of downloads of the text). She told us she had dismissed bodyguard protection because having protection made her feel like a hypocrite: if she told young Muslims to speak up, as she had spoken up, and then left them to be subject to violence from their families and communities while she enjoyed security, she felt false. She explained that she dealt with concerns about safety from young people around the world who were seeking to implement real change in Islam by saying to them that "some things are more important than fear."