Week 15 Reading Response

Last class! I really enjoyed all of the presentations, and thought everyone in class did an excellent job. I hope I get to see everyone in future classes over the next two years here at SLIS.

As far as presentations go, I thought it was fascinating to see the juxtaposition of the big box book store and the urban library groups' presentations. Some of the book store-like changes Steve Coffman suggests in his article seem to directly oppose the recommendations made by the urban library group on how to improve and democratize large public libraries. For example, removing the computers from a library, and the librarians who teach people to use them might save costs, but it would deprive many library patrons of their only means of using the internet. As the urban library presentation pointed out: this would affect more than just individual users, because the person who comes to the library to use a computer is often doing it on the behalf of many members of their community. I tend to agree with the big box group that although in small ways (making the library more comfortable for reading) making a library like a book store is positive, in big picture ways, libraries should keep their traditional role in the community. The urban library group also brought issues to my attention, such as homeless people's use of the library and their particular needs.

Week 14 Reading Response

Second to last class, and the first day of presentations. It seemed that these presentations covered interesting topics, but ones that are slightly less controversial than those that will go on the 15th. The e-reader presentation was interesting, and confirmed my preference for the Barnes and Noble Nook over other readers (I bought one just a few weeks ago). In a similar vein to Week 12's reaction, the group brought to my attention the ability of e-readers to help people with learning and physical disabilities navigate and understand a book. I also like the mention of the difference between what you think your rights are as an e-book purchaser and what they actually are. An e-book can be bought and read, but not lent (at least, not freely under all circumstances) or sold. This seems to reiterate my point from the intellectual property readings a few weeks ago: today's copyright law is not equipped to deal with modern technology.

The other presentation, one city one book, really caught my attention. It does seem to be a good idea, having a whole city read a book, but I'm not sure if the utopian idea is unrealistic: are a majority of people really going to read and have intelligent conversations about a book that a city group suggests to them? The presenting group demonstrated that although considered successful in some cities like Seattle and Chicago, in other cities it fails overall, such as in New York. Also, the goals of the program confused me a little. Yes, a citywide book read might encourage people to consider ideas or viewpoints they might have otherwise. But the goal of promoting literacy seems suspect. Are people with no or limited reading skills going to accept the challenge of plowing through an adult reading-level book? That seems doubtful to me. One city one book is a good idea in some respects, but in terms of promoting literacy, librarians should look to spend their time and money in a more useful way to help illiterate and barely literate adults gain and improve reading skills.

Week 13 Reading Response

There is so much I could discuss about Louise Robbin's book, The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown. Overall, I really liked how Robbins integrated so many different elements and occurrences into a comprehensive narrative. She considers the state of the community of Bartlesville, what was happening in the community and the nation in terms of anticommunism/McCarthyism, racial segregation and racism, and the place of women in the community, and describes how all of these different factors fit into Ruth Brown’s life experience, such as her ability to make more waves after her foster children were on their own. She provides a comprehensive view of the circumstances surrounding Ruth Brown's dismissal so the reader can understand all the various factors that contributed to it.

This reading dovetailed nicely with my group project for this class: book banning and censorship. I really enjoyed the way Robbins illustrated the development of the principle of intellectual freedom in libraries in a specific case such as this. It astonished me to read on page 59 that a library commission recommended that "questionable material" be removed or severely restricted, at least until the opposition died down. It was also around this time, though, that the ALA began to more strenuously support intellectual freedom and condemn censorship. Without the historical circumstances in the mid-twentieth century, the profession of librarianship wouldn't be recognizable today.

Another element of the book that caught my attention was the strong association in many people's minds between communism and racial equality. Both of these movements had the potential to severely disrupt people's every day lives, which many people feared and fought. What worries me, however, is similar associations I see being made by some highly conservative groups today. While in the 1950s, some people believed that racial equality was a threat to American democracy, today it seems some people believe that Islam is a threat to America's (supposed) Christian heritage, or equality of sexual orientation is a threat to American family values. Perhaps these ideas will never reach the magnitude of segregation, or the McCarthy witch trials. But any threat to freedom of speech and choice in this country is worth fighting, no matter how small. Every day, librarians face challenges to the materials they offer, and we must remember to remain strong in our opposition to censorship. Intellectual freedom is now a central value of the library profession, and like Ruth Brown did, I hope to uphold that value no matter the consequences.

Week 12 Reading Response

This week's blog post is less of a reading response than a video response. I haven't yet had the opportunity to take an online class, so I liked having this small introduction to asynchronous learning. The videos also brought up a lot to think about in terms of the present and future roles of the library. The first video, "The Future of the Academic Library" covered a great many topics. I chose to focus on one that coincided with one of the readings for today, "The Library as Place." One of the points made by the presenters in the video was that the role of the library is changing in modern times, and the physical space of the library should change accordingly. Rather than the library as a repository for endless shelves of dusty books, they should be reconfigured as learning commons or "infocommons" in order to serve users' needs.

The article on the physical construction of academic libraries made a similar point. Students and faculty today look at the library as a one-stop place for learning and researching needs. I can vouch for this from experience. I work at the reference desk in Memorial Library, and several times this semester I have answered phone calls during which a student asks where they can find a tutor, or get help writing or formatting a paper. They expect the library to offer these services, but I have to send them to various places across campus. Perhaps it would be better for libraries to become more integrative, and create space for different services besides merely providing access to books.

I can't say that I know what the ideal future library will look like. But it is obvious that libraries are no longer only a storage space for books. In my future career as a librarian, I hope to work with agencies such as the Council on Library and Information Resources, as well as library users of all types, to create a library space which is dynamic, integrative, and service-oriented.

To conclude, I would like to mention the other video. I found the video about the issues surrounding the kindle study to be very thought-provoking. I personally do not have any particular disabilities, and do not know anyone personally who does. It is easy to forget that some people do have disabilities and need differently accessible products, but this course has helped me to remember this issue. As a librarian, I hope to always be aware of the different abilities of my patrons, and to work to provide all the information the library provides to them in an accessible format.

Week 11 Reading Response

I really liked this week's articles on government documents and libraries. Sometimes with the readings we have, I'm left wondering how to connect the information given to librarianship, but with these readings the connection was clear and informative. Two of the articles seemed to promote the traditional library goal of greater access to information. One article, however, seemed took the more interesting stance that government communication could be dangerous.

The first article I read, "Examining the Role of Website Information" was very well laid out, with clear objectives and findings. Basically, the authors, Eschenfelder and Miller, advocated for greater use of textual information on government websites. More than that though, they propose that website information be constructed and evaluated not just on quantity but on type and quality. I agree that it is important not only to have basic information on government policies and actions available to the public, but that there should also be information regarding information behind those policies, how the government came to the solutions it is proposing, and alternative theories and actions that could be taken. This allows for greater citizen involvement in the workings of government, which is essential to a democratic society.

The article "Documents for a Digital Democracy" also emphasized the importance of disseminating government information to the populace in general. This article emphasized the importance of digitizing printed government documents, and the proper management of digitized and born-digital information from government sources. I enjoyed the section that described how librarians should rethink their roles. The role of the modern librarian, in a simple sense, is to provide people with access to information. To do this in the context of government information, librarians must assist with the digitization of records and keeping of digital records, as well as be familiar with all of the varied types of information made available by governments and how users can access them.

I honestly wasn't really sure what to make of the final article, "The Nerves of Government." It had some good elements, but overall it seemed to lean a little on the side of paranoia/conspiracy theory stuff. Generally, government communication with citizens is seen as a positive thing, something that encourages democracy. In this article though, government communication is seen as a propaganda tool, a way of indoctrinating Americans into thinking the way government wants them to think. I can see that sometimes the government uses communication tools in an attempt (that is probably somewhat successful) to influence citizen's opinions. But we can't simply ask the government to stop providing information, as much of it is useful or even essential to functioning in our private lives and as a country. As I said, I'm not sure how to make sense of this article in terms of the other articles assigned or in terms of librarianship in general.

Week 10 Reading Response

Let me begin by saying that I have no background in law whatsoever, and my knowledge of copyright, at least until this week, involved discussions of plagiarism in my undergraduate history classes, and the fear of being caught downloading music I didn't pay for. With this base knowledge, I had mixed feelings about the readings for this week. All of them were interesting, but I probably read them at a pretty basic level, and may not have picked up on the more nuanced aspects of the discussions of copyright.

The first two readings, the excerpts from Shamans, Software, and Spleens and "Cultures and Copyrights" really helped me to understand more about what copyright law is and how it developed. I also thought Michael Brown's analysis of the Bulun Bulun case was very interesting. I find it both fascinating and confusing the many ways that copyright can be used in a modern context, such as in this reading where an aboriginal Australian group used copyright law to assert their rights and autonomy as an indigenous people. The final reading, "Telling Tales out of School," demonstrated another legal argument based on copyright based around academic research and scientific data. After reading it though, I was left wondering how the information contained therein is specifically applicable to librarianship. I look forward to our class discussion on these topics.

The article that I enjoyed reading the most was "Revising Copyright Law for the Information Age," by Jessica Litman. I really couldn't agree more with her assessment that we, as a nation, desperately need to radically revise, if not completely overhaul, our copyright laws. As she points out, today's digital technologies make basing copyright law literally on the right to make copies obsolete. Her discussion of the public's misconception of what copyright is, combined with my own similar misconceptions, make it obvious that copyright laws are so confusing and cumbersome that they are not practical in an age when almost anyone can gain access and easily copy almost any original work. And when people are being sued for millions of dollars for downloading a couple dozen songs from the internet (http://articles.cnn.com/2009-06-18/justice/minnesota.music.download.fine_1_jury-instructions-fined-sheryl-crow?_s=PM:CRIME), its pretty obvious there's something wrong with the system.

I can't pretend that I have the expertise to judge Litman's suggestions on how new copyright law should be constructed, but as an average user of copyrighted materials, her solutions seem viable. I think this is something that I, and all future librarians, should look into in greater detail. If copyright law is actually to be revised for the digital age, librarians should and probably will play a role in its construction, or at least the dialog surrounding the change. We are often the intermediaries between the general public that Litman describes in her article, and the copyrighted works they need access to. I think it's part of our job to help the public gain access to the ideas encompassed in copyrighted works without infringing on the rights of the creators of those works.

Week 9 Reading Response

For me, reading Literacy in American Lives by Deborah Brandt after Skloot's Immortal Life was like watching a freshman communications student give a speech immediately after a motivational speaker. Brandt's book had some interesting material, but the density of the text and the narrow focus of the subject matter was hard to get through after reading Skloot's fast-paced narrative. I felt as though it would have been at least somewhat helpful if I had had any sort of background in literacy studies before approaching this book, because I have no intellectual context in which to place it. Is her perspective of literacy as a resource novel, or standard for the field? Is her use of individual case studies instead of large, anonymous surveys considered less accurate, or innovative? Are her conclusions valid according to others who study literacy? I just think some more general background information in literacy studies would have been helpful for me in contextualizing this book.

One basic premise of Brandt's book that I found noteworthy was her idea of sponsors of literacy. It is easy to think of literacy as an all or nothing thing, a skill taught to you by your grade school teachers that remains the same thereafter. But as Brandt describes, literacy exists on a continuum, and it people's literacy levels are affected by institutions and people they interact with throughout their whole life. Considering literacy in this way, looking at what elements in people's lives that effect and promote their literacy, is essential for the goal of improving people's literacy. No matter how good a child's grade school education is, they will not gain a high level of literacy if the basic places in their life they gain and practice such skills, like in church, are ignored.