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Idaho Librarian
Volume 51 Number 3 June 1999 ILA DIVISION REPORTS PUBLIC LIBRARY DIVISION I made a few corrections last month to the proposed Public Library Division Bylaws, still available at http://www.eils.lib.id.us/bylaws.html. The proposed bylaws contain two changes from the organization we're used to. First, the Division chairperson will serve a two-year term. The two-year term has been adopted or is being considered by the other divisions of ILA in order to provide more continuity in division activities. The other officers will be the chairperson-elect or the immediate past chairperson. The second change is the provision for both ad hoc committees and the Awards Committee. The Awards Committee will oversee the selection of the "Library of the Year" award. Feel free to look at the proposals and make suggestions. We will adopt some new by-laws in October. On the other hand, we will probably not be able to vote on new "standards" for Idaho public libraries in October. The 1991 standards will be on the web by the end of May. Perhaps we can decide at our division meeting in October what the next step should be in the revision process. The new award, "Public Library of the Year," is still being developed. We hope to have the process and financial support in place so that the first award can take place at the annual conference in 2000. Max Leek
ED MEDIA DIVISION A revision of the Education Media Division Bylaws is being conducted. Several members are reviewing the 1986 revision for additions, corrections, or deletions. When suggestions are completed, the draft will be available at the 1999 ILA Annual Conference held in Boise. Discussion for adoption will be at the Ed Media Division meeting. The Ed Media Task Force has resumed the original name, Idaho School Library Media Program Coalition, and has been actively pursuing the need for elementary/middle school library media programs. At a time when the need for information access and information literacy is greater than ever before, there are only thirty-two (32) certificated/properly endorsed library media generalists working in Idaho's 348 elementary schools. It is typical to find Idaho elementary school libraries staffed by non-professionals who have no formal training for the job. The members of this group include representatives from the Idaho Library Association, the Idaho State Library and the Idaho Department of Education. The first goal of this group is to develop a Strategic Plan, which has as its mission the strengthening and improving of elementary and middle/junior high public school library/media centers. This ambitious plan includes research connecting student achievement with quality library/media center programs. The group will be meeting with consultants from the Idaho State Library to formulate the Plan and set timelines for implementation on May 19-20 at the IEA building in Boise. We have obtained funding from private donors to help underwrite travel expenses from some participants. Marlene Earnest
YOU DECIDE! Is it Time for a Change in the Idaho Library Association? The ILA executive board is asking for your input on two proposals that would change the way the association is structured. The first proposal was featured in the previous issue, and this is the second proposal. The Restructuring Committee, after several brainstorming sessions, brought these proposals to the board for consideration at their January 1999 meeting. The board endorsed the concept of the proposals, but would like to hear from the membership before making any final decisions. Of course, any proposal that involves a change to the constitution or bylaws will come before the membership for a vote at the annual meeting in October 1999. We would love to hear your comments or suggestions about the following proposal. Please direct them to the committee chair, Camille Wood (see directory for contact information), by 31 August 1999. Here goes…. Proposal #2: Dissolve the Trustee/Friends division. Based on the difficulty of finding individuals willing to serve as trustee/friends division chair and the low attendance at conference by members of this division, the restructuring task force could not see any reason to continue a separate division. Participation by friends and trustees would continue to be sought and welcomed. Questions and answers follow. If this proposal were approved, which division would a trustee or friend select when becoming an ILA member? Whichever they feel is most appropriate for their situation. Many members are affiliated with public libraries, so many of them may select the public library division. Others may select the college, university, & special libraries division or the educational media division. Will programs geared towards friends and trustees still be available at ILA's annual conferences? The conference committee and chair, as usual, will consider any request for a program, from a division, or even from individual members. Trustee and friends members may certainly volunteer to participate in conference planning, can still be active in planning a program, and of course, their attendance at conferences will be most welcome. Trustees and friends who wished to meet together at conferences could form a roundtable and request a meeting space and time. Will the cost of membership or conference attendance for trustees or friends change too? These fees will not be directly affected by this proposed change. Would the association still honor a Trustee of the Year? Yes. Will making this change look like the Idaho Library Association no longer values input from trustees and friends? We hope not. There have been between 125-150 memberships from this group in the last four years, but it has been difficult to find candidates for office from among this group, and their attendance at conferences has typically been quite low. We anticipate that active participation by friends or trustees will be welcomed by each division of which they are a part. A trustee or friend who wished to run for election as a division president would be encouraged. They would also be eligible to serve as a committee member, chair, or board member. When would this change occur? If approved at the October 1999
annual conference, the trustee/friends division chair elected this year
would serve out his or her term ending in October 2000, and assist with
the transition. Membership forms for the year 2000 would be updated to
reflect the change.
ILA SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS: The ILA Executive Board has budgeted a total of $500.00 for scholarships and awards this year. Some money can be awarded to librarians who wish to further their education through workshops, correspondence courses, conferences, or seminars. The Scholarship/Award Committee can not guarantee everyone a scholarship, but all applications will be given equal consideration. All applicants must be current members of the Idaho Library Association. Complete the "Scholarship Application" form provided; write a detailed statement regarding the need for financial assistance and the benefits of attending the event; and contact a reference who will submit a brief recommendation directly to the Committee. The application, personal statement, and the letter of recommendation must be sent by September 1, 1999 to Kevin Booe, 715 S. Capitol Blvd., Boise, ID 83702. Recipients will be awarded the scholarships at the October ILA conference and will be notified by September 30, 1999. AWARDS to be given at this year's conference include Librarian of the Year, Trustee of the Year, and/or Special Service to Libraries. To nominate someone for any of these awards, simply use the "Award nomination" form provided and contact others who will write letters of support for your nomination (they can also use the form provided). This form will make it easy for us to acknowledge those deserving people in our library communities. All nominees must be current members of ILA. The nominators will be notified by the Committee if their nominee is a winner and will be asked to make the presentation at the conference in Boise, October 1999. Nomination forms must be sent to Kevin Booe, 715 S. Capitol Blvd., Boise, ID 83702 by September 1, 1999. Scholarship and award application forms appear on pages 4-5 of this
issue, and can also be found on ILA's homepage at http://www.idaholibraries.org/Scholarships.htm
INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM FIGHTERS HONORED Sandra Shropshire
Five Idaho librarians were among those honored recently by the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom and by the Freedom to Read Foundation for their work in furthering intellectual freedom. At a dinner held during ALA's Midwinter meeting in Philadelphia last January, the organizations celebrated their respective thirtieth anniversaries by saluting individual intellectual freedom efforts and heralding members of the organizations' newly established Anniversary Honor Roll. The Idahoans were among a total of more than 200 honorees at the event, which was attended by over 500 librarians, trustees, publishers and others. Each honoree had been nominated by his or her chapter of the American Library Association, which had been asked to submit 3-5 names of those who have been "...instrumental in furthering First Amendment rights..." (1) in their communities. Eli M. Oboler, 1915-1983, University Librarian, Eli M. Oboler Library at Idaho State University; Susannah Price, currently Youth Services Division Manager, Boise Public Library; Joe Reiss, currently Library Director, Post Falls Public Library; Rand Simmons, currently Networking Consultant, Idaho State Library; and Adrien Taylor, currently Coordinator of Reference Services, Albertsons Library at Boise State University, were nominated for the Honor Roll on behalf of the Idaho Library Association by its Executive Board late last year. Eli M. Oboler contributed to the cause of intellectual freedom by serving in many leadership capacities on national and state IF bodies and by writing numerous articles and books. Books he authored include The Fear of the Word: Censorship and Sex (1974); Ideas and the University Library: Essays of an Unorthodox Academic Librarian (1977); Defending Intellectual Freedom: the library and the censor (1980); To Free the Mind: Libraries, Technology and Intellectual Freedom (1983); and edited, Censorship and Education (1981). The American Library Association established the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award posthumously in his honor. For over 20 years, Susannah Price has worked to further intellectual freedom causes. Her efforts have taken the form of organizing various programs and workshops promoting intellectual freedom, of defending challenged titles, of integrating book collections and of publicizing intellectual freedom issues. Susannah is Past President of the Idaho Library Association and served as chair of the Idaho Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee from 1992-1997. Joe Reiss has faced several material challenges during his tenure as library director. A former chair of the Idaho Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee, he has shown leadership by organizing IF workshops and programs and by establishing a statewide network of IF fighters who serve as resource people for libraries who face censorship challenges. When asked for an observation, Joe offered advice to anyone in a materials challenge situation, warning him or her to, "beware the self-righteous on any side of an issue (including intellectual freedom advocates), be willing to listen to all sides, and be open to compromise..." (2). Rand Simmons has been an active force in the fight for intellectual freedom in Idaho. Past President of the Idaho Library Association and current Chair of its Intellectual Freedom Committee, he participated in The Internet Filtering Assessment (TIFAP). Based on this experience he recently testified before the Ada Community Library Board on the subject of Internet filtering. He has led efforts to defeat Idaho Citizens Alliance's Proposition One, the "antigay initiative", which was defeated in the 1994 fall election. Adrien Taylor's activities reflect a conviction that there is a direct tie between humans' freedom of thought and human rights. His efforts have included civil rights work, anti-war activities and volunteer work in a mental hospital. He believes that libraries should be the center of activities to promote efforts defending freedom of thought (3). Representing the Idaho nominees, Susannah Price attended the dinner, at which those who have faced situations involving book challenges, as well as Internet filtering, were given recognition. In describing the experience, she noted how among those feted for special honor were Judith Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, Forrest Spaulding, author of the Library Bill of Rights, and members of Mainstream Loudoun Library (Loudoun County, Virginia), who have recently and successfully fought Internet filtering challenges in court. Susannah reflected on the inspiration she drew from the event, remarking that it felt as though people were there, "...to be motivated by [others] who have not been afraid to put their careers on the line, to receive some of their energy…"(4). The Idaho library community has reason to be proud. 1) Symons, Ann K. Letter to ILA Chapter President. 27 April 1998. 2) Reiss, Joe. E-mail to author. 5 March 1999. 3) ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, Freedom to Read Foundation. Anniversary Dinner Program. 30 January 1999. 4) Price, Susannah. E-mail to author. 16 March 1999.
NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Idaho Libraries Receive over $4.5 Million in Funding According to Rand Simmons of the Idaho State Library, thirty-five public library entities received a cumulative total of $139,248.24 of 1998 E-rate funding. The average amount was $3978.52. The total funding for Idaho school districts and public library entities was $4,542,270.99. Idaho public library entities received 3.07% of the total funding. Next year, the application process for E-rate funding will be streamlined.
Librarians are encouraged to apply and get their share of the pie!
1999 YRCA Winners Announced The Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA) has announced the 1999 Young Readers' Choice Award (YRCA) winners: Junior Division (4th-8th grades): Frindle by Andrew Clements (Simon and Schuster)
Senior Division (9th-12th grades): SOS Titanic by Eve Bunting (Harcourt Brace)
The prizes will be awarded in Calgary at PNLA's YRCA banquet on August 12th or 13th. I do hope most of you can be there. 53, 318 votes were cast in the Junior Division
Betty Holbrook, Chair
University of Arizona Clarifies Library School Status Despite rumors to the contrary, the University of Arizona's School of Information Resources and Library Science (SIRLS) is currently ALA accredited. Last fall the ALA's on-site accreditation team visited the campus and issued a report stating that the SIRLS program met all six ALA standards for reaccreditation. However, in February 1999 the ALA's Committee on Accreditation (COA) unexpectedly voted to deny reaccreditation to SIRLS. SIRLS has made an appeal of this decision with the complete support of the University and will retain accreditation during this time. University President Peter Likins and the University Attorney's Office are involved with the appeal. In the event that the appeal is not successful, the Master of Arts program will remain accredited for eighteen months following the decision. For more information about the appeals process, visit ALA's Office of Accreditation's guidelines page at http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oa/appeal.html. The School has set up a web site to track the process. It can be found
at http://www.sir.arizona.edu/school/alacoa.html. Should you need additional
information, please contact SIRLS at (520) 621-3565 or e-mail at sirls@u.arizona.edu.
PLA Announces 2000 Conference The Public Library Association's (PLA) 2000 National Conference will
be held March 28-April 1 in Charlotte, North Carolina. It will feature
a number of preconferences, and ten program tracks in Buildings, Children's
services, Special populations/Young adult, Marketing/Customer service,
Staffing & staff development, Technology, Trustees/Friends/Volunteers/Advocacy,
Library administration, Author/Literary/Reader's Advisory, and Adult services/Reference.
For more information, contact PLA at 800-545-2433, ext. 5PLA, or at www.pla.org.
NEW BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW The following is a list of books available for review that were received since the last issue of the Idaho Librarian. For a complete list of review books available, or if you would like to review one of the titles listed here, please e-mail Christine DeZelar-Tiedman (chrisd@belle.lib.uidaho.edu). Postal address: University of Idaho Library, Rayburn Street, Moscow, Idaho 83844-2363 USA. Barber, Phyllis. Parting the Veil: Stories from a Mormon Imagination. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1999. Collier, Michael. Water, Earth, and Sky: The Colorado River Basin. Salt Lake City: Univ. of Utah Press, 1999. Daly, Katherine and Ron Watters. Kath and Ron's Guide to Idaho Paddling: Flatwater and Easy Whitewater Trips. Pocatello: Great Rift Press, c1999. Lindsay, Jeanne Warren and Jean Brunelli. Nurturing Your Newborn: Young Parents' Guide to Baby's First Month. Buena Park, CA: Morning Glory Press, 1999. Sanford, Marcelline Hemingway. At the Hemingways: with fifty years of correspondence between Ernest and Marcelline Hemingway. Centennial ed., with a forward by Michael Reynolds. Moscow: University of Idaho Press, 1999. Shadow Cat: Encountering the American Mountain Lion. ed. by Susan Ewing and Elizabeth Grossman. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, c1999. Watters, Ron. Winter Tales and Trails: Skiing, Snowshoeing and Snowboarding in Idaho, the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. Pocatello: Great Rift Press, c1998. When We Say We're Home: A Quartet of Place and Memory. W. Scott
Olsen, Dawn Marano, Douglas Carlson, and Wendy Bishop. Salt Lake City:
Univ. of Utah Press, 1999.
BOOK REVIEWS Reading the Earth: New Directions in the Study of Literature and the Environment. Edited by Michael Branch, Rochelle Johnson, Daniel Patterson and Scott Slovic. Moscow, ID.: University of Idaho Press, 1998. Reading the Earth is an anthology of essays which seeks to acquaint us with various facets of a relatively new school of literary criticism called, (at least by some of its practitioners), ecocriticism. For those who have not yet encountered ecocriticism, it may be appropriate to mention that this style of criticism has apparently achieved a measure of academic respectability, in that its advocates have formed an association, (the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment); that association publishes a journal, (ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment), and there is at least one educational institution, the University of Nevada, Reno, which has created a graduate degree program for the subject-area. The somewhat hermetic world of academic literary criticism is currently blessed with a dizzying variety of alternative theoretical approaches. Ecocriticism belongs to what one might call the "constituency" group. It shares with feminist criticism, queer-theory criticism, post-colonial criticism and race- and class-based criticism, a distinct socio-political agenda. Like them, it is interested in asserting the rights and interests of an oppressed group, (for eco-critics, that means pretty much the entire living, but non-human, planet), and attacking attitudes which are culturally "privileged" and yet, in its view, not only mistaken but pernicious. It follows the pattern of these other schools in taking a particular domain of literature as its special subject-matter, yet not hesitating to dissect, from its own tendentious perspective, works that are part of the standard "canon" of literary classics. It also displays the rather unfortunate tendency of the discipline to believe that good criticism must be grounded in esoteric theory. The literary domain staked out by eco-critics encompasses primarily those works which could be labeled "nature writing". In American literature, that category includes works by such authors as Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, John Muir, Mary Austin, Edwin Way Teale, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Annie Dillard, Barry Lopez, Peter Matthiessen, and Terry Tempest Williams. These exemplify the core texts for study, but interest is extended to all works which display a greater than average interest in the natural world, for example Walt Whitman's and Gary Snyder's poetry, and the novels of Willa Cather, Ursula Le Guin and Edward Abbey. Though most of the core works are non-fiction, they are, or have become, "literary" non-fiction. Their authors not only meditate upon the relationship of nature and human culture, but also dramatize that relationship. Eco-critics appear to share the conviction that the world is in deep ecological trouble and that cultural change is necessary to pull us out of it. Not infrequently this conviction finds expression in their writing as overt attacks upon western industrial/consumer culture and advocacy of a radical revision of man's attitude toward the natural world. But there is no unanimity regarding precisely what that attitude should be. Ecocriticism exhibits internal theoretical disagreements that mimic, to some extent, the fissures within the environmental movement itself, especially the rancorous division between so-called "deep ecology", and more traditional, pragmatic and anthropocentric environmentalism. The lure of "deep ecology" for eco-critics is that it seeks to persuade us that nature has legal and moral "standing", and literature, by giving nature a "voice", seems able to play a significant role in achieving that goal. With the publication of Reading the Earth, there are now three anthologies of ecocriticism in print. The earliest of these, The Ecocriticism Reader1, was co-edited by Cheryll Glotfelty, one of the founding mothers of ecocriticism. Among the merits of this volume are that it contains an excellent historical and theoretical introductory essay and draws together some of the classic writings relevant to the subject area. It devotes a good deal of space to essays which directly address the matter of culture-nature relations, paying little attention to authors and works of literature as intermediaries, but it also has a number of worthwhile examples of ecocriticism of particular texts. The other anthology, Writing the Environment2, is distinguished by including essays largely from British scholars, but it otherwise follows the basic pattern of the Ecocriticism Reader, opening with a section on ecocritical theory and proceeding to essays on particular authors, who run the gamut from dead and obscure (George Crabbe) to alive and celebrated (Don DeLillo). Reading the Earth informs us that most of its component essays grew out of a conference on literature and the environment that was held in Colorado in 1995. It also asserts that it illustrates "important new directions" in ecocriticism. It does not mention, though I think it noteworthy, that a substantial number of its contributors are young scholars, not yet equipped with PhD's. There are, all told, twenty-one essays in the book, organized into four sections: 1) Theoretical Perspectives on Culture and Environment; 2) Genre, Gender and the Body of Nature; 3) Readings of Nineteenth-Century Environmental Literature; and 4) Readings of Twentieth-Century Environmental Literature. Most of the essays seem to me to be solid, worthwhile contributions to the literature, though I cannot honestly say that I found any conspicuous "new directions" revealed in them. The essays of section two might come closest to exploring new territory, but the vein being mined here - essentially a feminist approach to ecocriticism _ has been around for quite a while (in fact I understand that an "ecofeminist" anthology is soon to be published). If I were selecting books for an academic library that sought to keep abreast of developments in literary theory and/or pursued an interest in the environmental movement in all its facets, I would probably acquire all three of the anthologies mentioned above. If I felt that buying only one were called for, I would probably choose The Ecocriticism Reader, on the grounds that it has greater historical scope than the others, while also managing to provide typical examples of what ecocritical writing is all about. Leonard A. Hitchcock
1 The Ecocriticism Reader. Edited by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens, GA: Univ. of Georgia Press, 1996. 2Writing the Environment. Edited by Richard Kerridge and Neil Sammells. London: Zed Books, 1998. Before he became a librarian, Mr. Hitchcock taught philosophy and
anthropology and was heavily involved, both as an academic and political
activist, in the environmental movement. For the past thirteen years, he
has been bibliographer for the English and Philosophy departments at ISU,
and is currently AUL for Collection Development at that institution.
Ammon, Bette D. and Gale W. Sherman. More Rip-Roaring Reads for Reluctant Teen Readers. Englewood, Colo. : Libraries Unlimited, 1999. ISBN 1563085712. LC 98-37150. "Just one person can make a difference in a reluctant reader's life and give that gift of reading. Maybe that person is you." The authors, Bette Ammon and Gale Sherman, make that simple statement in the introduction to More Rip-Roaring Reads for Reluctant Teen Readers, which encompasses the main mission for those of us (teachers, librarians, parents) who want to bestow the priceless gift of reading onto future generations. The following statistics are scary: "…fifty percent of third and fourth graders are reading below grade level, and many of these children will stop reading altogether by the time they reach middle school." As a middle school librarian, I have experienced the truth of that statement. It is a constant challenge to match reader and book. What an addition to any librarian's toolbox was the original Rip-Roaring Reads for Reluctant Teen Readers, published in 1993. Following in the same tradition and format, More Rip-Roaring Reads for Reluctant Teen Readers, equips me with more information to match reader and book. Ammon and Sherman suggest three ways to get nonreaders to read. 1) Introduce them to "exciting books that are impossible to put down." 2) Offer them a choice of genre alternatives—fiction, nonfiction, adventure, mystery, etc. 3) Keep them reading with an ongoing list of books related to their interest. Forty different books and authors are featured with information concerning genre, theme, readability, interest level, reviews, author information, plot summary, introductions to the book, booktalks, and literature extensions. A new feature in this latest edition is the addition of Internet connections and addresses. Author sites are listed whenever they are available or email addresses if authors invite communication. The extension activities often list Internet sites and addresses for additional research. References are made to more than 1500 additional titles where a whole list of books, connected by author, subject or genre, is put into the hands of readers in the format of bookmarks. The bookmarks are available for reproduction to give to readers. Librarians can easily individualize the bookmarks by identifying those in his/her collection. As in the first edition, the same eight criteria are required for books to be included as Rip-Roaring Reads: 1) Recent publication, 2) Relatively short book length, preferably less than 150 pages, 3) Appealing format, 4), Eye-catching cover, 5) High-interest, meaningful subjects, 6) Appropriate reading levels, 7) Notable authors, 8) Excellent writing. The five indexes from the first edition are combined into two general indexes in this edition: Author/Title Index and Genres, Themes, and Activities Index. For quick reference the indexes are another tool to help match reader and book. Thanks Bette and Gale for another great book! Carol Williams
DeCourten, Frank. Dinosaurs of Utah. Col. ill. by Carel Brest Van Kempen, photographs by John Teleford and Frank DeCourten. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1998. $45.00. Many of us think of dinosaurs as extinct reptiles, probably because
the name was coined from Greek roots to mean "terrible lizard" and all
we ever saw of dinosaurs was fossil evidence. DeCourten quickly disabuses
us of this notion, marshalling evidence to show that they were neither
limited to the class Reptilia
Dinosaurs of Utah provides an excellent view of the life and times of the variety of dinosaurs which roamed Utah for approximately 180 million years. There are 41 photographs and 22 colored plates depicting the author's idea of how the various types of dinosaurs looked and what their environment might have been. There are also 112 line drawings illustrating fossils and various features of dinosaur anatomy as well as detailed maps and charts that show the geologic history and the topographical shifts in the areas being discussed. These illustrations are exceptionally clear and valuable supplements to the text. The book includes a five-page glossary of terms, a short bibliography divided by chapter, and an index. Anyone who has an interest in the geologic past and in dinosaurs in particular will enjoy reading Dinosaurs of Utah. I would also recommend this book for purchase in academic and large public libraries. Bob Hook
Waterman, Bryan, and Brian Kagel. The Lord's University: Freedom and Authority at BYU. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, c1998. ISBN 1-56085-117-1. LC 98-28933. $19.95. Does the unique mission held by a religious university, of instilling in the members of a particular sect the doctrine, morals, and value system it espouses while at the same time educating them for careers and further study in the "outside world," give that institution the right to curtail intellectual freedom and work in opposition to federal laws regarding hiring and dismissal of its faculty? And does the restriction of intellectual freedom and due process result in a compromised education for the students at that university? Or is the secularization of private education the greater danger, in not allowing church leaders to define the criteria and world view they wish to pass on to their students? These are just some of the questions raised by Waterman and Kagel in their study of the religious and political controversies that have occurred at Brigham Young University (BYU) in recent decades. Waterman and Kagel are both BYU graduates and former editors of competing publications: Kagel of the official BYU student newspaper Daily Universe and Waterman of the off-campus "alternative" Student Review. This has given them not only an "insider's" perspective, but also a unique access to documentation of events as they unfolded. The book begins with an overview of BYU's history and its cultural atmosphere. The bulk of the book consists of accounts of controversial decisions regarding a number of faculty members that took place during the 1980's and 1990's, in many cases resulting in denial of tenure because the professors espoused feminist views, participated in non-church sponsored symposia or published in journals that were critical of the Mormon church or conflicted with church doctrine. Waterman and Kagel have deliberately taken a journalistic approach to writing the book, so instead of stating their views and backing them up with relevant and carefully selected examples, they chronicle events as they unfold in a non-judgmental and unbiased manner. Though the authors' opinion on the controversies is apparent throughout the book, they refrain from pushing their agenda and instead let the evidence speak for itself. The result is, at times, mind-numbing and repetitive, as many of the cases are inter-related and are brought up again and again. The reader is presented with every conversation, administrative meeting, memo, and letter to the editor that materialized about each case. Some summarization and streamlining might have made the book more friendly reading. As it stands now, the book has 474 pages that don't exactly fly by. But in writing the way they did, Waterman and Kagel allow all sides to present their cases as documented at the time the incidents occurred, and refrain from "selecting out" those that don't align with the expected viewpoint and reactions of opposing forces. The final chapter effectively sums up how the neo-conservative movement and so-called "culture war" of the 1990's increasingly affected intellectual freedom controversies at BYU. Most glaring is the irony that several feminist professors were denied tenure for, among other things, being "too political" and yet conservative politics were allowed to influence all aspects of BYU policy. It will be interesting to see how these cultural conflicts play out into the next millenium, and whether religious universities like BYU will continue to vigorously fight secularization by denying true freedom of thought and inquiry. On a personal note, I'd like to disclose my own bias regarding the subject of this book. As an undergraduate, I attended a religiously affiliated college in the Midwest. While there, I witnessed several attacks on intellectual freedom similar to those described in The Lord's University. A highly regarded sociology professor (and ordained minister) lost his job for suggesting in class that the church might in the future expand the role of women in the ministry, because female ordination was against church doctrine. In another instance, a group of students (of which I was a part) was met with a great deal of resistance when trying to establish a chapter of Amnesty International on campus, because of the organization's perceived connection to the political left and vocal opposition to the death penalty. Reading The Lord's University brought back many painful memories for me. Issues of intellectual freedom and inquiry, the secularization of American society and how that effects religious institutions, and the place of politics in religion and education are important ones for all academics to explore, whether they work at a public or private university. Though the book favors the liberal viewpoint, conservatives will want to read it as well, to learn how BYU responded to threats to its strongly held convictions. Every religious college and university has probably already faced, and will continue to face, challenges to its expressed ideals, and each must find for itself where the fine line between intellectual freedom and secularization lies. Christine DeZelar-Tiedman
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