New Year, New Semester

I'm gearing up for a new semester of Library School! Yay! I am taking LIS 6603 Basic Information Sources and Services & LIS 6409 Introduction to Library Administration. My first conference/on-campus meeting is on Friday the 13th of January. It should be fun!

Cover 2 Cover

This semester is the first time I have ever read my textbook cover to cover. And I did it with a couple weeks left in the course!

Censored by a Librarian

This is my latest discussion board post, again in reference to my textbook. This time, I recount an experience I had of being censored, in a library, by a librarian! I know, it was a shocker. Granted, the librarian is not as bad as I portrayed the gender neutral person to be, but I felt that by adding a little drama to my post it would make a more interesting read. I suppose that is the literature enthusiast in me shining through. :-) 

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According to Rubin on page 379, the First Amendment provides the right to both express oneself and the corollary right to receive the ideas of others. What I find interesting is that it does not provide the right to not be bothered by other people’s ideas.

I remember one time having a discussion in the library about a religious topic and the librarians told us to move my discussion so that others would not have to overhear us. They claimed to be protecting the FA right to not receive information. Perhaps I am missing something, but I am pretty sure the FA does not censor ideas, but protects them.

We were not happy about being censored, but decided to be respectful of other people and moved the discussion. However, I found it disturbing that a librarian would suppress the freedom to discuss ideas in the name of free speech!

E-Rates: A Bribe for Censorship

I aced my last paper. I was a little worried because I used EndNote for the very first time and did not have as much control over building my References page. But it worked out.

Discussion Post. Below is my discussion post for the week. I entitled it "E-rates: A Bribe for Censorship." It has to do with government contribution to library operation costs, that end up costing libraries some intellectual liberty.

I understand that my title for this thread regarding pages 348-352 of the text is a bit simplistic and exaggerated, but I could not help but entertain these thoughts.

In essence, the government has been trying to exchange economic benefit to educational institutions for compromise in the area of censorship. Those institutions that apply for and are granted the special “E-rates” are then subject to evaluation to ensure that proper monitoring of use is applied. This left me appalled and saddened, since I can definitely see how easy it would be to compromise standards for some financial relief especially in our current world.

By the same token, I feel it is important to remember that this is not only “Big Brother” wanting to get their hands into everything. While that may play a part in their reasoning, outwardly, the purpose of this censorship is for the children’s benefit. Restricting child porn, preventing illegal activities and eliminating cyber-bullying are very good goals to strive for, especially in environments that cater to minors. However, the implementation of these restrictions would also infringe upon rights to information, which is why librarians oppose them.

The More Things Change

Just submitted another assignment. I had to follow several blogs and write a report on the topics they covered. I decided to follow the Library History Buff and iLibrarian.

I noticed that these blogs approach the same topic from different ends of the spectrum. The thesis statement is basically: Libraries provide excellent service using whatever technology is available to them. Sometimes this means Twitter. Sometimes this means sending a post-card. Either way, like change itself, some things never change.

The Nature of Info

This week's discussion regarding the difference between Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom.

I found the section concerning the nature of information to be enlightening (pages 286-287). I particularly enjoyed the fact that Rubin made distinctions between 2 pairs of similar terms.

The first pair was Data and Information. Rubin considered data to be pure fact, while information was data that has been applied meaning. Information, therefore, is potentially useful while data could just be a random set of facts.

The next pair is knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge encompasses both data and information, but adds the element of application. Hence, the potential use has been realized. Wisdom adds values to the knowledge. This final term fits into the mission of libraries, which are to affect society for the better through the application of information.

Contacts

I received word from my professor regarding my Lib/Info Center Report. I got 5 points knocked off because I did not cite my interview. But other than that she loves my writing style, she loved my use of screen-shots to illustrate my points and she learned quite a bit from my report. That's always cool. Oh, and I lost five points when there are 130 points possible, so I get an A.

I just applied for a Library job in the Green Library Circulation department. It's not an administrative position and it does not require an MLIS degree, but it pays fairly well so we'll see.