FYI France: new books, on the Internet & libraries in France
Several interesting new books are out, about the Internet and
libraries in France:
1) The Internet, in France --
* Internet, communication et langue franc,aise / Jacques Anis,
ed. (Herme`s science publications, 1999) ISBN : 2746200635.
-- France is not the only country in the world which has a
"language policy". The others don't talk about it as much. But a
_lot_ of potential users / customers / clients out there do not
and never will speak English -- "language policies" can be de
facto as well as de jure. Understanding the French, who at least
are frank about these things, offers a good and easy and perhaps
necessary prelude to understanding the others as well.
* La France dans la socie'te' de l'information (La Documentation
Franc,aise, 1999) ISBN : 2110041927.
-- The Internet as Official Government Policy... The USA is
nearly the only country in the world which doesn't have one. As
with language, it is valuable to consider how other folks Out
There are tackling questions of governmental involvement and non
- involvement in all of this, perhaps beginning with the French.
* Histoire mondiale de l'espionnage : T2 De la guerre froide a`
l'e`re internet / Claude Moniquet, Genovefa Etienne (Editions Du
Felin, 2001) ISBN : 2866453948.
-- An interesting angle: ever wonder how the spy - fans in France
are viewing the Internet now? The US and UK views certainly seem
to be up in the air, particularly post - "9/11". Packet switching
started out as a military "spread the risk" investment venture,
after all, and perhaps things are coming full circle now.
Interesting to consider how this is being viewed in a nation
famous for its centralization tendencies.
* Une architecture Internet pour le syste`me d'information de
France Telecom / Jean - Luc Lucas (Eyrolles, 2001) ISBN :
2212110030
-- Ever wondered how huge information systems overseas do the
"Internet upgrade"? Different problems, perhaps, from those faced
in the US, or anywhere else where the English - language medium
is an easier one to master. How would they do this in China, I
wonder? How would they do it in Indonesia? Most places have
enormous and state - run telecom monopolies, far more similar to
a France Telecom than to any Baby Bell...
* L'Internet (Direction des journaux officiels, 2001) Les
e'ditions des journaux officiels no 31724, Collection "La loi au
quotidien".
-- the lawyers...
* Le droit d'auteur et l'Internet : rapport du groupe de travail
de l'Acade'mie des sciences morales et politiques / Acade'mie des
sciences morales et politiques ; pre'side' par Gabriel de Broglie
(Presses universitaires de France, 2001) Series title:
Cahier des sciences morales et politiques.
-- the lawyers (bis), plus the several following --
* Droit sur internet / C. Lobry, M. Letrat (Top Eds, 2001) ISBN :
2877311821.
* Du droit et des liberte's sur Internet : Rapport au Premier
ministre (Documentation Franc,aise, 2001) ISBN : 2110047291.
-- important stuff, in this post - 9/11 year of the CIPA /
Children's Internet Protection Act, which "protects" so much more
than just children (the case is "American Library Association vs.
The United States", going to trial March 25 -- see,
http://www.ala.org/cipa/
and more below), and of apparently - limitless war -- by
Terrorists against Others, by Others against Terrorists...
* Internet pour le droit : Connexion, recherche, droit / Serge
Guinchard, Miche`le Harichaux, Renaud de Tourdonnet
(Montchrestien, 2001) ISBN : 2707612316.
* Internet : le droit du cybercommerce, Le guide pratique et
juridique 2001 / Francis Baillet (Groupe Strate'gies, 2000) ISBN
: 2904060766.
* Internet et le droit / Aloysius Bertrand, Thierry Piette -
Coudol (Presses universitaires de France, Que Sais - Je nume'ro
3504, 2000) ISBN : 2130511287.
* Droit de la communication , presse, audiovisuel, Internet /
Charles Debbasch (Dalloz, 2000) ISBN : 2247041140.
* Guide 2000 de l'Internet en France (Marabout / Poche, 1999)
ISBN : 2501032330.
-- "How To Do It", the latest...
* Hackers et Pirates sur Internet / Damien Bancal (Desmaret,
2001) ISBN : 2913675093.
-- The Scandales, the latest...
* De l'imprime' a` Internet / Marie-France Lebert (00h00, 2000)
ISBN : 2745401920
-- "How does the world of the print media accept this tremendous
means of communication which is the Internet? How does the
Internet take into account the various sectors of the print
media?" -- from this excellent epublisher's website, at
http://www.00h00.com
* Propagande au Royaume - Uni : De la Renaissance a` Internet /
Xavier Cervantes (Ellipses, 2002) ISBN : 2729810366.
-- irresistible title. Not strictly "France", but perhaps a
French view -- although by an author named "Cervantes"? -- of
l'Albion perfide, from Elizabeth's ministers to Tony Blair and
his...
* L'internet : un vrai de'fi pour la France ; rapport au Premier
Ministre / Patrice Martin - Lalande (La Documentation Franc,aise,
1998) Collection des rapports officiels, ISBN : 2110039272.
-- anyone remember J-J Servan - Schreiber?
* La galaxie Internet / Manuel Castells (Fayard, 2002) ISBN :
2213610576.
-- "must" reading, for anyone French, in things "digital" and
"Internet". Castells -- at one time of Nanterre and the
generation of '68, and now of Berkeley and the generation of 2002
there -- has written the most popular bible among those who would
wish to understand the Internet in its broadest generality: his 3
volume work, The Information Age. The current piece from Fayard
is a translation of his recent Clarendon Lectures at Oxford,
published in English as The Internet Galaxy : Reflections on the
Internet, Business, and Society (Oxford, 2001) ISBN: 0199241538.
Compared to the opus magnum the lectures are mercifully smaller
and more simply presented -- in the latter he has lightened up on
the impenetrable prose which so cripples the former. If you are
looking for a simple one - volume explanation of the cosmic
significance of the New Information Society, for a generalist
reader more comfortable in French than in English, this is it.
* Internet et multime'dia applique's aux collectivite's
territoriales / Francis Aynaud (Ed. de La Lettre du Cadre
Territorial, 2000) Dossiers d'experts, ISBN : 284130275X.
* Internet a` l'e'cole en France / Jean - Louis Durpaire (Centre
Re'gional de Documentation Pe'dagogique CRDP Poitiers, 2000) ISBN
: 2866324595.
* Histoire des me'dias : De Diderot a` Internet Edition 2000 /
Fre'de'ric Barbier, Catherine Bertho - Lavenir (Armand Colin,
2000) ISBN : 2200252269.
-- at last, the Thing -- the Internet -- is beginning to have a
"history"... also,
* Internet et le me'tier d'historien : Re'flexions sur les
incertitudes d'une mutation / Rolando Minuti (Presses
universitaires de France, 2002) ISBN : 2130516033.
--oOo--
2) And some interesting new books on Libraries, in France --
* La bibliothe`que nationale de France / Daniel Renoult (Cercle
de la Librairie, 2001) Bibliothe`ques, ISBN : 2765408203.
* Conduire une politique documentaire / Bertrand Calenge (Cercle
de la Librairie, 1999) Bibliothe`que, ISBN : 2765407177.
* Les bibliothe`ques municipales et leurs publics / Anne-Marie
Bertrand, Martine Burgos, Claude Poissenot (BPI Bibliothe`que
publique d'information, Centre Georges Pompidou, 2001) Pratiques
ordinaires de la culture.
* Les villes et leurs bibliothe`ques / Anne - Marie Bertrand
(Cercle de la Librairie, 1999) Bibliothe`ques, ISBN : 2765407452.
* Strate'gie marketing des services d'information / Florence
Muet, Jean-Michel Salau:n (Electre-Cercle De La Librairie, 2001)
Bibliothèques et centres de documentation.
* Le contro^le de l'e'tat sur le patrimoine des bibliothe`ques :
aspects le'gislatifs et re'glementaires, essai de pre'sentation
critique / Jean - Luc Gautier - Gente`s, Denis Pallier (ENSSIB,
1999) Les dossiers juridiques de l'ENSSIB, ISBN : 291022726X.
-- Important issues, as suggested above, at a time when Freedom
of Expression appears to be under attack throughout the globe,
both among critics of The West, and within The West itself: in
the US, with its new CIPA Children's Internet Protection Act
which censors far more than just the children -- the case is
"American Library Association vs. The United States", going to
trial March 25 -- and in France, in a couple of little towns down
in the far south, in their mairies and their local libraries...
* Litte'rature contemporaine en bibliothe`que / Martine Poulain
(Cercle de la Librairie, 2001) Bibliothe`ques, ISBN : 2765407983.
* Litte'rature(s) en bibliothe`ques / Marie Dinclaux, Jean -
Pierre Vosgin (Presses Universitaires Bordeaux, 2001) Lecteurs
Bibl.usages Nouveaux nume'ro 6, ISBN 2911185056.
* Le management du personnel en bibliothe`ques / J. Muller
(Electre, Cercle De La Librairie, 2001)
* Les Adolescents et la bibliothe`que / Claude Poissenot (BPI
Bibliothe`que publique d'information, Centre Georges Pompidou,
2000) Etudes et recherche, ISBN : 2842460227.
* Cinq sie`cles de lecture populaire / Noe: Richter (Socie'te'
d'histoire de la lecture, 2000) 2d ed., Mate'riaux pour une
histoire de la lecture et de ses institutions, ISBN : 2912626080.
* Les me'diateurs du livre : pre^tres et pasteurs, instituteurs,
professionnels et militants / Noe: Richter (Socie'te' d'histoire
de la lecture, 1999) Mate'riaux pour une histoire de la lecture
et de ses institutions, ISBN : 2912626056.
* Le droit d'auteur et les bibliothe`ques (Electre - Cercle De La
Librairie, 2000) ISBN : 2765407851.
-- those lawyers, again...
* Pre'sentation des publications, traitement documentaire et
gestion de bibliothe`ques / Association franc,aise de
normalisation (AFNOR, 2000) 5th ed., Documentation, ISBN :
2122344512.
-- standards -- perhaps the best response which the professions
might make to a world come slightly unhinged or at least changing
fast...
--oOo--
And a general note, about all of this:
One of the dramatic developments of the turn of the millenium, in
US library collections, has been the funding falloff in "foreign"
journal subscriptions and acquisitions: fell off a cliff, I'd
say, judging from personal experience with current availabilities
in a number of major US institutions. I have done no statistical
study to prove this -- I am not sure that one could be done -- my
observation is impressionistic only. But it does seem to me that
in the US, now, there is vastly decreased interest in "foreign"
languages or histories or attitudes or approaches to things.
If printed book libraries offer any indication, well, entire
sections of collections once actively prowled by undergraduates
now have been moved to neglected shelving areas off the beaten
track -- sections, that is, which so far have avoided the
ultimate ignobility of consignment to off - campus surplus
shelving where they never would be read again. As for foreign
journal subscriptions, just try to find them. The truest test of
usage in a busy library being the inverse shelving disorder rule
-- the tidiest shelves hold the least - used books -- "European
Studies" and other such areas nowadays appear to be the tidiest.
And if digital usage is the indicator, well then, someone please
do the numbers on "US" Websites and other digital media versus
"non-US" -- even on their "relative growth rates", as opposed to
their "current usage". I remember Japanese GNP growing at 10+% pa
while that of the US grew at far less, back in the 1950s, and yes
the Japanese did nearly catch us -- just as the Chinese, at their
current 8+%pa GDP, may catch us now. But the current head start
which the US enjoys in digital media usage is enormous: even at
geometric projection rates for economic growth, the US lead in
this area puts it far in front of the rest of the world combined.
Current conventional wisdom suggests that all this is as it
should be, that "supply and demand" are dictating this "meilleure
des mondes possibles" -- that US college students simply no
longer are interested in "European Studies", for example, and
even that they need not be, now, as there are so many other areas
of study more "relevant" to the modern situation available on the
current campus, self - centered "multiculturalism" so often
substituting for the real thing -- or that students live now in a
world which requires engineering and the hard sciences more than
it does the humanities and the other "soft stuff", perhaps.
Perhaps the modern "supply and demand / best of all possible
worlds" can do without the messy subjects, and controversies, and
heartaches, of worlds which preceded it -- The Formula has been
found, maybe, and it just is a matter of time before the entire
globe conforms to the One Accepted Formula...
But ignorance cuts both ways, in this. Just as some feel it is
too bad that so many people around the globe do not yet benefit
from the wonders and riches of the Internet and of Western
Civilization -- they will if they work hard, they are told, and
many of them are working very hard in those directions -- it also
is a problem that many in The West, who increasingly are online
all day now on computers and flip - phones and televisions and
various other media, are losing touch with and understanding of
the Disconnected World. So when the bombs drop, and the planes
hit, and the military diseases surface, the most stunned among us
are the richest and the most sophisticated: the world's poor know
from whence these problems come -- in the words of Turkey's Orhan
Pamuk, the Poor and the Disconnected know "The Anger of the
Damned" (New York Review of Books, November 15, 2001).
We all need to stay Connected -- those of us who think we have
The Formula to those of us whom we think do not, just as they
need to stay in touch with us -- this keeps the surprises from
being as surprising as they were late last year. A beginning
would be made, at least, if those of us in The West were to stay
a bit better in touch with each other: the fundamental mindset
among Westerners is not so different -- minor cultural
differences, such as those of language, are more easily overcome
among us -- and talking with our friends is good preparation for
the more complex and arduous task of talking with our foes.
So that is the spirit in which the references above are offered
here. It is the spirit in which this entire FYI France effort has
been undertaken since its 1992 beginnings. It is not so much the
French who are the object of the attention in FYI France, or the
Americans, or anyone else in particular -- it is the process of
communication, between one culture and another, which is so
important in a rapidly globalizing world, in which cultural
differences are taken for granted only to the severe peril of all
concerned. This is a process which cannot be enhanced if we no
longer teach our children about those differences, and if we no
longer stock and read the "foreign" materials on our bookshelves.
--oOo--
FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071 - 5916
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