National Dialogue on the Curriculum of Readiness for the 21st
Century Librarian     W. Michael Havener:  Our first speaker is
going to be Maurice Wheeler, from the University of North Texas.
Audience:  [applause]  Maurice Wheeler:  Good morning everyone!
I have reached the interesting point in my life on the road to
bifocals, where I can neither read with nor without my glasses.
Audience:  [laughter]  Maurice Wheeler:  So, you'll have to
excuse me if I stumble through this. The year 2004 marked the
50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education court decision,
requiring the desegregation of public schools in America.  This
groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court decision had a tremendous
effect on libraries, and librarians. It reshaped laws, policies,
practices, and to some degree attitudes about education, as well
as the use of public facilities and libraries. It seemed hard to
imagine that in 1991, the new generation of Supreme Court
Justices quietly began to create what is viewed as an
"incremental reversal"