Lest we forget the purpose of paper

I spent the day weeding the LRC library. The library moved from a much larger space to its current location. Space considerations as well as a need to move to online resources to serve its multiple locations requires some ruthless weeding. Not all that different than the issues most U.S. law libraries are addressing. 

I hauled shelf after shelf (15+ years) of South African Government Gazettes to the dumpster. The resource, think of it as a combination of our Code of Federal Regulation, United States Code, Federal Register, and other general government notices, is now online in full text. 

Despite today's fanatical pitching of paper, this photograph served to remind me of the purpose of the printed word. I am of the age where I turned to print on paper for education, inspiration, and encouragement. The printed word, whether fiction, non-fiction, or textbook, are intertwined with the hopes, dreams, accomplishments, and disappointments of my life.  

This sculpture is in the Anthropologie in Chelsea Market, New York City. The number of tourists and shoppers that stopped to look and to comment, even if for just a moment, is evidence of the power of the printed word to evoke emotions and thoughts.  

Anthropologie, Chelsea Market, NYC, NY 2013

My suitcase for this adventure weighed in at 59 pounds, likely because of the books in it. Despite all the technology in my briefcase (iPad, smartphone, and laptop), I carried six books in print and it was well worth the $75 baggage fee: 

• The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa, Michael Kimmelman
• Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela
• Human Rights at the Crossroads
• Law Firm Librarianship, Issues, practice, and direction, John Azzolini
• Effective Knowledge Management for Law Firms, Matthew Parsons
• The Lonely Planet Guide to South Africa 

I carried these works in print simply because at the of a day spent at a keyboard, I prefer to regenerate by curling up in a chair with paper. I've always admired and envied those that could assemble words to form a poem, an essay, a story or a novel. That admiration and envy for those who can challenge, educate, inspire, motivate, and encourage with words will not change even when I evolve to read it on a screen.  

Dear Peace Corps, I finally made it, almost...

It is one day shy of a week since I arrived in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, to start a fellowship with the Legal Resources Centre of South Africa. Over the next six months, I'll be working with the LRC staff to develop, organize, and begin implementing plans to modernize their library and research operations to better support the work of the LRC lawyers.

The LRC is South Africa's largest and oldest national public interest law organization. Since 1979 the LRC has been working on behalf of the most vulnerable populations in the areas of land and housing rights, children's rights and education, environmental justice, HIV/AIDS, health and other social services, refugee matters, and women's equality. The LRC is the leading public interest law firm pursuing constitutional litigation in the South African courts. Nelson Mandela appointed LRC's founder, Arthur Chaskalson, to serve as the first President of South Africa's Constitutional Court in 1994.

Janet Love is the National Director of the LRC. She has been a part of the anti-apartheid movement since 1974. She spent 10 years in exile and worked inside South Africa as a member of the African National Congress underground. She is a Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission.

The LRC library is named in honor of Bram Fischer, a key figure in the anti-apartheid fight. A South African lawyer of Afrikaner descent, he was, among other things, the lead defense attorney for Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists arrested at Liliesleaf Farm in 1964. Many believe it is due to his work that the activists received life sentences rather than the death penalty.  

Memorial Plaque for the LRC library

I've spent the last week getting to know the library, its staff and operations, and the collections, current and archival. I am all ready to roll up my sleeves on Monday morning and get to work. The next six months should prove interesting.