Dibs

This is one of those only-in-Berkeley stories. The public library in this self-congratulatorily radical California town is locking horns with the local “Peace and Justice Commission” (I know, I know) “over whether a service contract for the book check-out system violates the city’s nuclear-free ordinance,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “The dispute centers on a five-year, $63,000 contract the library wants to sign with 3M, an international technology company based in Minnesota, to service five scanner machines library patrons use to check out books. But 3M, a company with operations in 60 countries, refused to sign Berkeley’s nuclear-free disclosure form as required by the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act passed by voters in 1986. As a result, the library’s self-checkout machines have not been serviced in about six months. Library officials say 3M is the only company authorized by the manufacturer to fix the machines, which were purchased in 2004…. The checkout machines were formerly maintained by the manufacturer, a company called Checkpoint, but Checkpoint last year announced it was turning over its maintenance jobs to 3M.” The Peace and Justice Commission won’t permit the library to sign a contract with 3m and insists that,  instead, the library “find a company that complies with the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act. ‘We really mean it when we say we don’t want to be part of the nuclear machinery,’  said commission member George Lippman. ‘The act is meant to be a blow against nuclear war. We’re serious about upholding that.’”