White House Library - Not Just Books

From Rolling Stone

Obama's Secret Record Collection
Inside the White House Record Library

DAVID BROWNE

When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, he gained access to five chefs, a private bowling alley — and a killer collection of classic LPs. Stored in the basement of the executive mansion is the official White House Record Library: several hundred LPs that include landmark albums in rock (Led Zeppelin IV, the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed), punk (the Ramones' Rocket to Russia, the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols), cult classics (Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, the Flying Burrito Brothers' The Gilded Palace of Sin) and disco. Not to mention records by Santana, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Isaac Hayes, Elton John, the Cars and Barry Manilow.

During the waning days of the Nixon administration, the RIAA, the record companies' trade group, decided the library should include sound recordings as well as books. In 1973, the organization donated close to 2,000 LPs. The bad news: The selection was dominated by the likes of Pat Boone, the Carpenters and John Denver. In 1979, legendary producer John Hammond convened a new commission to update the list for the hipper Carter administration. "They felt they needed to redress some of the oversights that might have taken place the first time around," says Boston music critic and author Bob Blumenthal, who was put in charge of adding 200 rock records to the library.

At the commission's first meeting, Blumenthal brought up Randy Newman's thorny dissection of Southern culture, Good Old Boys, to determine what restrictions the panel might face. "That was exhibit A," Blumenthal says. "And I was told, 'Oh, the president loves that album! Go ahead!' " So Blumenthal and his advisers — including Paul Nelson, then Rolling Stone's reviews editor — compiled a list to reflect "diversity in what was going on in popular music." They picked the Kinks' Arthur for its "theme of empire," and Blumenthal snuck in favorites like David Bowie's Hunky Dory.

On January 13th, 1981, the LPs — each in a sleeve with a presidential seal — were presented to Jimmy Carter at a White House ceremony. But the collection — placed in a hallway near the third-floor listening room, complete with a sound system — didn't remain upstairs long. When Ronald Reagan took office that year, the LPs were moved to the basement. Depending on the source, the reason was Nancy Reagan's distaste for shelves of vinyl, or the edgy choices themselves. A spokesman for Obama said it was too early to comment on whether the president would revive the library. But Obama may be pleased to learn that at least a few of his favorite albums — Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run — are there if he wants them on pristine slabs of vinyl.

[From Issue 1071 — February 5, 2009]

Consumer Product Safety Commission

Here is the news release from ALA about the Consumer Product Safety Commission issue.

NEWS
For Immediate Release
January 26, 2009

ALA Files Comments, Urges CPSC To Exempt Libraries from Regulation Under Consumer Product Safety Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Library Association (ALA) today filed comments with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), urging the commission to issue notification confirming that the new lead limits under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSIA) do not apply to library books and related materials.

Under the CPSIA, which was passed by Congress in August, children’s products are required to undergo stringent testing for lead and phthalates. Currently, the General Counsel of the CPSC is interpreting the law to apply to ordinary, paper-based books for children 12 years of age or younger, so that all such books and product would have to be tested for lead content. Therefore, public, school, academic and museum libraries would be required either to remove all their children’s books or ban all children under 12 from visiting the facilities as of February 10.

The ALA’s comments explain that the new CPSIA standards applicable to children’s products should not apply to library books on library shelves prior to February 10. Since a library’s books are neither “produced” nor “distributed” by the library, the law should not apply to library books. At this point, however, the CPSC has indicated that the law will apply to libraries.

Additionally, the ALA’s comments reaffirm the comprehensive evidentiary support the publishing community has supplied the Commission that children’s books do not present any of the health or safety risks to children that the law aims to address. This evidence provides an ample basis for CPSC to exercise its regulatory authority to determine that books inherently satisfy the new lead standards.

Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the ALA Washington Office, said it is critical the CPSC take these comments into consideration.

“If the commission does not correct their ruling to include library books under the regulation of the Consumer Product Safety Act, communities and schools across the country are going to be shocked and outraged on February 10,” Sheketoff said.

“While we understand the process the CPSC must carry out in order to ensure this law is properly enforced and that the safety of our nation’s children is protected, we believe the commission is wasting time and resources by zeroing in on book

publishers and libraries. It is our hope that this matter will be resolved soon, so that libraries can continue their efforts to serve children without the threat of closing their doors.”

The ALA’s letter to the CPSC can be viewed here.

New Book

Magazines for Libraries (17th ed.) edited by Cheryl LaGuardia [created by Bill Katz]

FYI: This is the 2009 edition of this annual publication. Entries include title, ISSN, frequency & price, URL, peer-reviewed status, where indexed, intended audience, etc. Magazine titles are grouped by subject with both title and subject indices. This book is similar to Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, but the scope is limited to materials one might desire in a library. Of note in modern times, zines are also included.

New Book

• Emanuel Goldberg and His Knowledge Machine: Information, Invention, and Political Forces by Michael Buckland

FYI: "This book tells the story of Emanuel Goldberg, a chemist, inventor, and industrialist who contributed to almost every aspect of imaging technology in the first half of the 20th century. Photographic sensitometry, reprographics, standardized film speeds, color printing (moire effect), aerial photography, extreme microphotography (microdots), optics, camera design (the Contax), the first hand-held movie camera, and early television technology-Goldberg was involved with all of them. Yet history has not been kind to him, and his name has been all but erased from the annals of information science." (from the back cover)