Outreach?

C: Sandy's article originally appeared in the LA Free Press. For once, a professional talking to people who don't use the library, instead of about them.

E: And telling them why and how to participate in the decision-making. Our next book should be along this line.

C: Really. Ask all different people, "How would you use the public library as a tool? Make it the instrument of your *κ!#Ω?" Most folks never consider they own it.

E: Maybe combine that approach with more ideas like Marty's migrant labor adventure. (This originally appeared in the N.J. Social Responsibilities Group Newsletter, along with Jana Varlejs' stomping follow-up.)

C: The guy asking for "girlie" mags got to me - as a feminist. Guess I'd try to talk with him and trust to honesty ....

E: Exactly what didn't happen in Orange Co. with Anne Osborn. The administration wouldn't even confront her as a thinking person.

C: Then they bust her when she insists on public dialogue. People are sure possessive of their disney fantasy worlds.

E: Which brings us to "The Turkey Trot in Dallas." Again we can see how much, like the school sytem, we have gotten away from realities.

C: Jana's response to the migrant worker project suggests the conflict here. When libraries pour time, energy, money into frippery rather than urgent need, we should use our efforts to stop such distortion.

E: Like which is our priority - pressuring the establishment to change, or going out to plant the new seeds?

C: Well, we can't win without the inspiration of example, and the pressure of dissidents. "Different strokes for different folks."