Archie Dick

Dr. Archie Dick, Professor of Information Science at the University of Pretoria in South Africa since 2003, came to the UIUC campus as a visiting lecturer in the spring of 2007. Teaching in the University's highly ranked Information and Library Science graduate department, Professor Dick inspired students with descriptions of his personal experience as a librarian/activist in South Africa. In January, Professor Dick brought his message to the Champaign-Urbana masses, lecturing as a guest of the prestigious Center for Advanced Study/MillerComm series. This compelling event was described in the CAS/MillerComm brochure: "During the 1980s, libraries in South Africa were caught up in the turbulence of the anti-apartheid struggle. Librarians and readers responded in unusual and constructive ways to the oppressive political circumstances and state censorship of the period. As reading became subversive, libraries became more than just places for books. Many librarians and readers acted as agents of social change. They should be remembered in the history of the struggle that created the modern South African state." Soft-spoken, gracious and relating stories at once harrowing and triumphant, Professor Dick's interview for Ninth Letter will not soon be forgotten.

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Film & Animation

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• 9thLetter
• Prison
• Library
• South
• Africa
• Interview
• Apartheid
• Activist