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Describes the history, geography, government, culture, people, and special events and attractions of the state of Oklahoma. ... Read more

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A step-by-step guide on how to set up your own library of state related books and other materials.Includes tips on using the Dewey Decimal System, creating card catalogs, budgeting and acquiring materials + gives resources for books, art, music, rare books, technology, autographs, etc.Excellent classroom activity.Free teacher's guide gives specific suggestions and instructions on how to get max educational value from this book.Hey, if it's your library, you won't have to pay any late return fees! ... Read more

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Lists Oklahoma's libraries with special or unusualcollections.Includes activities that teach students about the importanceof libraries, the Dewey Decimal System, the Library of Congress, Books- in-Print, contributions of Andrew Carnegie and how and why to uselibraries.Listing includes many libraries with special collections aboutOklahoma.Free teacher's guide. ... Read more

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How are your library and its patrons adjusting to the challenges of the digital age?

This essential book examines how digital formats are changing libraries today, from the perspectives of librarians, vendors, and library users. Editor Sul Lee is an internationally recognized leader in library administration and management. The expansion of digital collections has been one of the foremost issues in the library field since the early 1990s, and this book addresses important questions about the impact of the digital age. Questions like:

• How will scholars and students react to digital formats?
• How will electronic resources change collection development?
• Will libraries stop buying print materials in favor of digital resources?
• Will libraries convert to only digital products or will they have to buy both electronic and print formats?
• Will academic libraries retain their central role in the university?
  
  With chapters from leading academic deans and directors, directors of national organizations of library professionals, and book/serials vendors including Philip Blackwell, CEO of Blackwell Limited, this book explores:
• digital resources and technology
• digital books--and what they mean to libraries
• legislation on copyrights and intellectual property rights in the digital age
• electronic cooperation between libraries
• how digital technology can facilitate on-campus research partnerships
• the extent to which academic libraries are embracing electronic publications

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In 1950 Ruth W. Brown, librarian at the Bartlesville Public Library, was dismissed from her job after thirty years of exemplary service, ostensibly because she had circulated subversive materials. In truth, however, Brown was fired because she was active in a group affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality.

This episode in a small Oklahoma town almost a half-century ago is more than a disturbing local event. It exemplifies the strange period of the Cold War known as the McCarthy era, foregrounding those who labored for racial justice, sometimes at great cost, before the civil rights movement.

Customer Reviews (3)

A Truly Impressive Work About Censorship and Racial Equality
This book was required reading for a master's degree course in which I am enrolled, and from the moment I started reading, I was entralled with the story of Miss Ruth Brown and the hardships she was forced to endure due to the personal agendas of such groups as the Chamber of Commerce and the American Legion.

Miss Brown was hired as the librarian for the Bartlesville, Oklahoma public library.Located deep in the oil fields of Oklahoma, Bartlesville was home to Phillips Petroleum Company.Phillips had great influence over many of the areas of Bartlesville, including the library.

One of Miss Brown's favorite activities was planning story time and fun things for children.She included black as well as white children at her gatherings.This infuriated many of the townspeople, for Bartlesville, as with other areas of the country in the late 1940s and early 1950s, was engulfed in racism and segregation.Also, Miss Brown was accused of having "submissive materials", including the magazines "The Nation" and "The New Republic" on the shelves.Many people felt these were Communist-type propaganda magazines that should not be available to the general public.

Miss Brown remained defiant.She continued to hold her de-segregated story hours and shelve her "submissive" magazine, all to the chagrin of the "powers-that-be".She even entered a downtown drug store with two African-American women and asked to be served.She was refused.

Finally, under pressure from the big wigs at Phillips, as well as other people in the community, the city commission removed Miss Brown as librarian for having submissive materials available to the general public, when in reality she was fired for promoting racial equality.

Miss Brown eventually filed suit against the Bartlesville city commission, but she lost on appeal.She then took a job in Mississippi at Piney Woods Country Life School, a school for African-Americans.

Miss Brown died on September 10, 1975 at the age of eighty-four, but her legacy lives on.She promoted racial harmony and equality during a time of the Ku-Klux Klan and lynchings.She promoted free speech and expression during a time of censorship. And she promoted the library as a place of learning which should be accessable to everyone.

This is a fabulous book.From the moment I started reading, I could not put it down.The story told by author Louise Robbins is excellent, and her prose is easy to read and understand.I give this book my absolute highest recommendation.Read it and see how one woman's courageous struggle changed the landscape of censorship, race relations, and libraries forever.

"America's Ideal Family Center"
Having spent the majority of my life living in northeastern Oklahoma, I was well aware of Bartlesville, OK. I must have made hundreds of trips to what the Chamber of Commerce touted as "America's Ideal FamilyCenter." It had the reputation of being a conservative, white,upper-class community that was progressive as that term was defined by thedominant employer, Phillips Petroleum. In short, it was a typical, thoughcertainly more wealthy than most, small Oklahoma town. Or so I thought. Ihave since learned, thanks to Louise Robbin's fine book, that Bartlesvillehad a dark side, darker than most it turns out, that does not appear in theChamber of Commerce press releases. It is not a pretty story. Ruth WinifredBrown was born on July 26, 1891, in Hiawatha, KS. She graduated in 1915with a degree from the Univ. Of Oklahoma. In November, 1919, she became thelibrarian for the Bartlesville Public Library. She served as librarian for30 years without a mark on her record. It was, by all accounts, a record ofoutstanding achievement and exemplary service. On July 25th, 1950, Brownwas summarily dismissed by the city commissioners. The reason given was shehad caused subversive materials, in the form of magazines such as TheNation and The New Republic, to be circulated to the general populace. Tobe sure this was the McCarthy era, a time when groups such as the AmericanLegion and the Chamber of Commerce, to name but a few, were workingdiligently to rid our communities of suspected or perceived communistinfluence. Thus, if a librarian or two had to be sacrificed in this war toprotect our cherished freedoms, it really was not too big a price to pay.After all, many American's lost their jobs, reputations, and families underthe tutelage of Sen. McCarthy and his ilk. That's the price of freedom. Ifthis were the real story of Miss Ruth Brown it probably would not warrantthe publication of a book. Unfortunately, there is more, much more. Thanksto the scholarship of Ms. Robbins we now know that Brown was fired from herjob, not for so-called subversive activities, but because she had beenactive in promoting racial equality. She had the gall to not only help forma group affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) but, evenmore shocking, to visit a major drug store in Bartlesville in February,1950, with two black ladies and request to be served. This she did on herown time, without any fanfare or publicity, and some four years beforeBrown v. Board of Education and other events which began to at least offera glimmer of hope to those supporting racial equality. Robbins has providedthe reader with the history and background of political, social, economic,and cultural events that led to the merger of McCarthyism and racialunrest, which resulted in a sad, black chapter in the history ofBartlesville, not to mention the Nation. It is sad, not only because thecommunity tolerated such behavior by its elected and appointed officials,but also because many of Miss Brown's colleagues knew the real reason forher termination and failed to disclose it to the community. It is also thestory of courage and pride exhibited mostly by women during a time when itwas not popular to be supportative of African Americans or any other groupnot on the power structures accepted list. This is a must read book if youare interested in forces ever present in our communities that can, and do,lead to censorship, intolerance, and the suppression of individual rights.The story is about a local event some 50 years ago; the message is aboutissues that are relevant today. Bartlesville, "America's Ideal FamilyCenter." You be the judge.

Life in the Turbulent McCarthy/Blossoming Civil Rights Era
This book provides a fascinating micro snapshot of what was occuring on a macro level across the United States during a turbulant time period in American history---the McCarthy era and the blossiming of the civil rightsmovement in the South.Bartlesville, OK, presents the perfect,middle-American city for a case study on American upset caused by thepost-WW II end of American isolationism (with its concommitant fears ofRussian world domination) and recognition that American Blacks weredeserving of the same rights they died for the Europeans to have.The bookrecounts the true story of librarian Ruth Brown, who in fighting againstcensorship and for civil rights, became the victim of an economic, class,and social structure not ready for change and eager and willing to useignorance and fear as weapons.I appreciated the author's ability to pulltogether an interesting, well-organized, and comprehensive story from avast array of sources with very different points of view. For anyoneinterested in history made personal, and in seeing how every-day peoplebecome heroes and villians by standing up for their beliefs, this book is atrue gem. ... Read more

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Discusses the land and climate, economy, government, and history of the state of Oklahoma. Includes Internet links to Web sites. ... Read more

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Surveys the people, geography, and history of the state known as the "Sooner State." ... Read more

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Details the events surrounding the 1995 terrorist bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, as well as the investigation and trial of those responsible for the blast. ... Read more

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Surveys events surrounding the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building including the rescue effort and the investigation by federal authorities. ... Read more