Before I address David's question, I should introduce myself.
I'm Sheldon Mains and I'm running for the Minneapolis Library Board of
Trusties.
WHO AM I?
Current Job: Director of Technology Services for the Management Assistance
Program for Nonprofits, St. Paul. Basically, I help nonprofit organization
use technology to better serve their clients.
Current Community Activities: Member, Service through Technology
Committees, United Way of Minneapolis Area and United Way of the St. Paul
Area; Board member, Minnesota E-Democracy; Member, Seward Neighborhood
Group.
Political Involvement: Minneapolis Library Referendum, Internet strategy
advisor, literature drops; Humphrey for Governor, volunteer coordinator of
Internet activities; Past member of the Minneapolis, 5th District and
Minnesota DFL central committees, past co-chair of legislative district
DFL; and a volunteer for a lot of DFL candidates.
Past Jobs: Assistant Professor of Telecommunications, St. Mary's University
of Minnesota; Coordinator, Minnesota E-Democracy, State government
bureaucrat dealing with social implications of technology and public
participation.
Past Community Activities: Board member, Twin Cities Free-Net; Chair, Vice
Chair, Treasurer, and member of Internet Advisory Committee of the
Minneapolis Telecommunications Network (MTN); Board member, Minnesota
Academy of Science; Regional public policy chair, Alliance for Community
Media; Chair, Seward Neighborhood Group; Member, Minneapolis Commission on
Civil Rights.
WHAT'S IMPORTANT ABOUT THE MINNEAPOLIS LIBRARIES?
The new downtown library and the new and improved branch libraries need to
be the town squares of our communities. They need to be welcoming to
everyone. They need to be our gathering places. Our libraries need to be
the physical and virtual centers of our city.
The Library Board needs to work closely with our neighborhoods, the
Minneapolis Park Board and the Minneapolis School Board.
Information and education are power in our society. The Minneapolis
library is the only place that gives everyone access to books and
information. They are, to use a term from the 1930s, "The People's
University."
While books will not go away, there is an explosion of information
resources and an explosion of ways to transfer information. The Minneapolis
Public Library needs to keep up with this explosion.
Before the Internet, to effectively exercise your first amendment rights,
you had to own a newspaper or a radio station or a TV station. With the
Internet, if people have access to the tools, they can tell their own
stories. They can be publishers, authors, producers. The Minneapolis
Library system can help people access the tools.
Members of the Library Board of Trustees must be willing to defend our
First Amendment rights. I will.
We need to make sure that when we build the new downtown library and
improve the branches, we do it right. We have one chance to build a new
library that will last for at least 50 years.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.shamelessagitator.org
>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>
sheldon mains seward neighborhood minneapolis [EMAIL PROTECTED]
the shameless agitator in the electronic town square
yes, i really am running for library board. check
http://www.shamelessagitator.org for details.
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