Greetings All:
I am replying to Sharon and the list as a former Deputy State Librarian
(Ohio) who was, by definition, a public employee. With certain
exceptions, whatever I did on state time using state resources was
subject to disclosure under applicable open records legislation. I
didn't like it but those were the rules. One learned to use private
communication channels and one's own time for what one wanted to remain
private.
Although a long time professional librarian, I have a Ph.D. in higher
education administration. I learned early in my studies that in the
"public" higher education sector of the United States the history of
self-governance is quite different from the privileged status of some of
our private universities or some of our Latin American brethren. In
Latin America, a number of long-established university traditions
reflect a status that resembles an independent entity. Conversely, in
the U.S., if a professor is legally a state employee and uses state
resources to create "work products," those same products are often
subject to public disclosure according to the applicable open records
laws. I don't like it but it comes with the territory.
Perhaps the University of Wisconsin ought to go private?
With regards,
Bill
Bill Crowley, Ph.D.
Professor
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Dominican University
7900 West Division Street
River Forest, IL 60305
708.524.6513 v
708.524.6657 f
[log in to unmask]
www.gslis.dom.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Sharon McQueen
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2011 7:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Academic Freedom & Open Records Laws
Hello All,
LIS educators respect and uphold academic freedom.* The library field
has struggled to balance privacy issues and open records laws. Given
this, I am very interested to know what LIS educators think of the
current national debate on William Cronon (UW-Madison Frederick Jackson
Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and
Environmental Studies) and the Open Records Law request for emails from
his university email account.
Abusing Open Records to Attack Academic Freedom
http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/24/open-records-attack-o
n-academic-freedom/
"...It is precisely this fear of intellectual inquiry being stifled by
the abuse of state power that has long led scholars and scientists to
cherish the phrase 'academic freedom' as passionately as most Americans
cherish such phrases as 'free speech' and 'the First Amendment.'"
GOP fails to get all of professor's email:
University of Wisconsin chancellor cites academic freedom, privacy
By Don Walker of the [Milwaukee] Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/119103214.html
Comments? Opinions?
Sherri
*"As LIS educators, we respect and uphold academic freedom and protect
the freedom to learn and to teach."
ALISE Ethics Guidelines Statement
http://www.alise.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=103911
Sharon McQueen
School of Library and Information Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Room 4252 Helen C. White Hall
600 N. Park Street
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 205-2234
Fax: (608) 263-4849
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/smcqueen/web/
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