LIS 569: History of American librarianship

Some fun images re: librarians and serach engines

2008-04-30T13:37:00.000-05:00

FYI: At Cafe Press.com you can search and create a variety of print items. If you search for "librarian" two Google-esque images come up as options: "Librarian as Google Logo" & "Librarian the Original Search Engine." Clever, and relevant to our most recent class topic! I thought you might find it fun! Thanks ..... Kristina

Just in time for our discussion today: Google comes to Madison

2008-04-29T12:49:00.000-05:00

The new online Capital Times reports that Google has arrived in Madison:

Google has been running a lab just off the Capitol Square, at 10 E. Doty St., since October. Representatives of Google said the company has signed a lease for an office at 301 S. Blount, just off Williamson Street, and plans to move into that space in the fall.

Google representatives would not comment on other specifics, including how many employees work at the facility, but the company did provide The Capital Times with a release that stated: "We are opening an office in Madison because the city offers an excellent quality of life, a deep local talent pool and commitment to education at all levels, including the University of Wisconsin."

[...]

Google's engineering office in Madison will be directed by Jim Laudon, who received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the UW in the mid-1980s. Laudon was not available for comment.

Another prominent member of the Google lab in Madison will be Jim Smith, who recently stopped teaching as a professor of both computer sciences, and electrical and computer engineering at UW-Madison. Smith's research area was in computer architecture, a UW-Madison specialty.

"After Jim Smith stopped being a professor (in the summer of 2007), Google wanted to hire him," said Guri Sohi, the chair of the UW-Madison computer science department who collaborated with Smith for many years. "But he wasn't willing to move to California, so Google basically said they'd start a site in Madison for Jim. And then they found some other people to run it with him."

Interesting Tid Bit

2008-04-29T11:23:00.000-05:00

April 28, 2008

London Journal

Shh! In British Library Reading Rooms, Flirting and Even Giggling

By SARAH LYALL

LONDON — In its old, mustily glorious quarters in the British Museum, the British Library’s main reading room was as exclusive as it was glamorous, a club rich with tradition whose distinguished alumni included Karl Marx, Virginia Woolf, W. B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw.

But in 1998 the library moved to a modern red-brick building on Euston Road, and four years ago it liberalized its admission policy. It opened its new reading rooms not only to writers and academics who depend on material from its singular collection, but also to “anyone who has a relevant research need,” a spokeswoman said.

Which is all fine. But “anyone” includes college undergraduates, and the problem with them, at least in the eyes of the older researchers, is that they tend to behave like the teenagers that many of them are.

They hog the seats.

They gather into clumps of chattering hormonal aimlessness.

They flirt, look one another up in Facebook and make complicated social plans about who will meet whom later in the cafeteria.

And to the extent that they are poring over texts, complained Tristram Hunt, a historian, professor and television personality, it is the sort of texts they intend to send to their friends across the room.

“The worst is that they actually answer their phones,” he said. “The phone vibrates and they go, ‘Hold on a minute, Nigel,’ and then they run out of the reading room and take the call.”

Researchers have been grousing about the boisterous atmosphere and crowded conditions at the British Library for years. But the dispute — a philosophical battle, really, over who should be allowed access to a great national library — spilled out in public last week when The Times of London published an article quoting various distinguished figures complaining about the out-of-control mood over spring break.

The article described how the author Lady Antonia Fraser had been obliged to wait for 20 minutes in freezing weather just to enter the building, and another 20 minutes to leave her coat at the mandatory check-in desk.

It described how another writer, Christopher Hawtree, had been “forced to perch on a windowsill” because he could not get a desk.

Claire Tomalin, a historian, was quoted as saying that the library was “full of what seem to be schoolgirls giggling” and not using the library for any necessary research purpose.

“I heard one say, ‘I’ve got to write about Islam. Can I have your notes?’ ” she said.

In a letter to the library, Lady Antonia said that while she did not object to the admission of students per se, she felt that the library had failed to address the “chaos and confusion” that came with the larger numbers.

A library spokeswoman said that the crowds were a reflection of the library’s success and that today’s researchers have a new, more interactive approach to their work.

“The library has changed and evolved, and people use it in different ways,” said the spokeswoman, who asked that, in accordance with library policy, her name not be used. “They have a different way of doing their research. They are using their computers and checking things on the Web, not just taking notes on notepads.”

With 127,000 active readers’ passes in circulation and a total of 1,480 dedicated studying seats, the library is doing its best to manage the situation, including dispatching monitors to remind members of things “like not talking in reading rooms and not leaving your books on the desk and going off for lunch,” the spokeswoman said.

The library has also installed plasma screens announcing which reading rooms are full, in the manner of municipal parking lots. But that has failed to placate the older members.

“There’s loads of people dressing like they’re in an episode of ‘Skins’ and high-fiving each other,” said Matt Taunton, a 28-year-old postdoctoral research assistant, referring to a television series about the wild and crazy lives of teenagers in Bristol.

He said he had recently asked a group of students to be quiet. “They looked at me like I wasn’t cool,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is a library — we’re not supposed to be cool.’ ”

Mr. Hunt, referring to students with iPods, said: “They’re sitting next to me with their Walkmen on, and I tell them to turn it off. I’ve become like a granddad, and I’m only 33.”

Richard Martin, 26, a first-year doctoral student, said the undergraduates were not the only group behaving badly at the library.

“The only defense is that the people I see most asleep are the old-men academics,” he said. “They turn up with a dozen books in the morning, briefly flick through one, fall asleep and then go out for a long lunch.”

Lady Antonia’s daughter Flora Fraser, 49, a biographer who was using the library the other day, said that at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, readers reserve seats in advance on the Internet. That way, no one turns up at the library only to find that all the spots are taken, a common problem at the British Library.

“Actually, I really recommend it,” she said. “Maybe the answer is to get on the Eurostar and go to Paris.”

Correction

2008-04-29T10:59:00.000-05:00

The Capital Times published its last daily paper edition on Saturday but will publish a weekly paper edition each Wednesday, and a weekly entertainment edition, 77 Square, each Thursday. I indicated otherwise in my context presentation last Tuesday. As they say in the business, I regret the error.

Reading Questions for the Week of April 21

2008-04-20T19:49:00.001-05:00

1. In what ways does the formation of the internet mirror the development of libraries in terms of function and users? Do you think the originators of the internet were as elitist as Michael Harris accuses the public library founders of being?

2. For the D’Elia article, did the conclusion that libraries and computers are complementary for the moment seem correct to you? What should libraries' tactics be centered on: joining forces with the internet or becoming a quality-based service center in competition with the internet?

3. Will a digital public library be possible because of copyrights? What are some other issues with the idea?

4. Is web 2.0 at all a realization of Tim Berners-Lee and Nelson's original idea of shared information? Is it closer or further from their vision?

5. How has the economy altered the development of the internet and technology in the library? Would it have been different if technology were not profit driven? How has this aspect most affected the development of the internet?

6. How does Bernard Frischer’s idea of an ideal new research library compare with the findings of the D'Elia study? Are they compatible, or not, and why?

7. Considering all the visions of libraries present and past that we have read about, what would your own personal ideal library look like? Does yours differ very much or not at all from the San Francisco Main Public Library?

Questions for Readings

2008-04-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

"Libraries increasingly will be understood less in terms of their physical holdings than in terms of their services." (p. 11, Role of the Council of Library Resources)

"... the agenda for the start of the next century is almost entirely dominated by addressing the effects and implications of technological change." (p. 68, "From Automation to Transformation")

"Will (libraries) be needed when the raw materials with with they have traditionally dealt are no longer available in printed form but are all readily accessible, on demand, to anyone with a terminal and the ability to pay for their use?" (p. 356, "Whither Libraries? or, Wither Libraries")

"So labor was to blame -- in its decisions, its skill, and its cost in time and money for the poor reaction on the part of LIBRARY 21 visitors to the Univac computer." (p. 47, "The Librarian and the Univac")

"Finally, we come to the present ... In trying to come to grips with what is happening ... libraries need to be understood in the historical context within which they have been created and developed as outlined here ... to begin to know more fully what libraries are for and how they work." (p. 13, "A History of Computer Applications in Libraries.")

My questions for discussion are:

If that last statement were rephrased as a question -- what are libraries for and how do they work? -- did these readings help answer it? Did they set up or further a collections-vs.-service debate?

What kinds of effects do you think labor and cost considerations have had in automation and technological updates in libraries? Will have in the future? Did it surprise you that so few librarians were involved in the CLR projects?

"Plan features new Downtown library"

2008-04-09T01:05:00.000-05:00

I just saw this article on Madison.com from the Wisconsin State Journal. I feel like this article would be so easy to dissect in terms of what we've talked about in class. Mostly, it reminds me of the video we saw on the New York Public Library. The glass entry is like the library in Brooklyn (if I am remembering it right). However, according to the article it seems the architect created it to mirror the Overture Center. Which then made me think of the first article in the reader (the very first one that wasn't assigned to write a blog on) about the main San Fransisco library. Why would a library want to be architecturally similar to a place designed to make noise louder? Just thought I'd post it to the blog. http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/280832

Social Justice and Public Interest

2008-04-07T12:05:00.000-05:00

The fundamental philosophy of public libraries in the United States, starting with the Library Bill of Rights, has consistently maintained that libraries are for everyone, “regardless of country of origin, age, background, or views.”

~Library Bill of Rights, American Library Association, Adopted June 18, 1948

Since the very beginning of Public Library services in the United States, we have debated about how to best serve our diverse communities. After more than a century, the debate continues. As natural community centers and believers in intellectual freedom, libraries and librarians have been obvious defenders of social justice.

Critics of outreach to the underserved often put heavy pressure on library decision-makers. According to those who, for example, oppose library services for immigrants, linguistically relevant collections and cultural programming causes a drain on traditional library services and is a misuse of taxpayer’s money. When you have an exclusively elite (white, middle/upper-class) group in power of the allocating and advocating of library funds, certain voices will most likely be left out. These are the voices of the underserved, the poor and disadvantaged.

Not only are libraries under the elicit power of an elite group within the library, but they are also receiving intense pressure from an array of diverse stakeholders from outside the library.
An example of anti-immigrant groups pressuring libraries played out recently in Denver. In 2005, members of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform wrote a letter to the Director of the Denver Public Library, Rick Ashton, demanding his resignation. Reasons for their demand included the library’s possession of Mexican foto-novelas, sending librarians to Guadalajara to purchase materials in Spanish, for being a member of the National REFORMA organization that caters to Spanish-speakers, and for holding community forums to discuss outreach services to support their changing demographics. The letter accused Ashton of squandering public funds, duplicitously undermining their otherwise excellent English-language library system and accommodating “illegal aliens” at taxpayers' expense. (About 35% of Denver’s population is Hispanic. About 55% of the Denver Public School population is Hispanic.)(Quintero, 2005).

In response to situations like those outlined above, advocates across the country who support freedom of knowledge (especially those who advocate for library services for Latinos) have organized, prepared resolutions, and coordinated concerted efforts to guarantee equity of service. A leader in this work has been REFORMA, The Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking. REFORMA has dedicated a section of their website to resources and official public statements concerning immigrants and the Spanish-speaking. (www.reforma.org ) In April 2006, REFORMA approved a resolution opposing H.R. 4437, stating that “REFORMA will encourage library workers to act as advocates for the education of undocumented immigrants about their human rights.” REFORMA members also developed a “Librarian’s Toolkit for Responding Effectively to Anti-Immigrant Sentiment” and signed on to the White Ribbon “Campaign for Dialogue”, an expression of support for meaningful conversations about immigration reform. The American Library Association and REFORMA both have agreements with the AMBAC (Asociación Mexicana de Bibliotecarios, AC), the Mexican national library association, to share information and opportunities.

Other efforts have been coordinated nationwide by librarians and by those who support libraries. For example, the Suffolk Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee presented “Breaking Down the Walls: Making Your Library a Community Cultural Center,” a symposium that discussed ways of serving immigrants including library cards for illegal residents. National library conferences, such as the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) and the American Library Association Annual Conference, have hosted programs to discuss the topic. In June 2007, Web junction hosted the webinar “Effectively Dealing with Anti-Immigrant Sentiment.” Speakers discussed how libraries can develop effective strategies for ensuring access to information to all people in their communities. Leaders of the library world led a live-nationwide discussion about the topic for and by librarians. Topics included advocacy, federal legislation, issues and options for academic, public, and school libraries. (García-Febo, 2007)

Another initiative that promotes library services to immigrants is “The American Dream Starts @ Your Library” project sponsored by ALA’s Office for Literacy and Outreach Services. This program offers mini-grants to libraries across the nation that wish to improve and expand adult literacy services to English-language learners.

The American Library Association identifies Equity of Access as one of the guiding principles for investment of energies and resources: “The Association advocates funding and policies that support libraries as great democratic institutions, serving people of every age, income level, location, ethnicity, or physical ability, and providing the full range of information resources needed to live, learn, govern, and work.” (Ramírez Wohlmuth, de la Peña-McCook, 2004)

During January 2007, ALA passed a Resolution in Support of Immigrant Rights stating that, “ALA strongly supports the protection of each person’s civil liberties regardless of that individual’s nationality, residency, or status; and be it further resolved that ALA opposes any legislation that infringes on the rights of anyone in the USA (citizen or otherwise) to use library resources on national, state, and local levels.”

But why does this matter? Why do we need to serve the underserved, the poor and the disadvantaged? As my ex supervisor, Patrick Jones, once said, Outreach to underserved communities matters because “the ability of the public library to remain indispensable in the eyes of society depends upon our ability to serve those who need us most.” And since the golden rule of libraries is to serve our community, we would be breaking our moral contract with our communities of we denied services to certain members.

But, even after writing all of this and wanting to believe that librarians are of course warriors of social justice, I hear the echo of Sandy Berman in my head and I can't help but pause and wonder...

Whether intended or not, are we "disseminating only white, middle-class cultural values?" Is there a huge gap between everything mentioned above that ALA claims to be doing to defend intellectual freedom and the reality of how libraries actually work? Are we truly walking the walk or only talking the talk?

Is there, as Samek suggested, a "deliberate but subtle use of force by an entrenched hegemony to maintain its grip"?

Diversity and Discrimination in American Libraries

2008-04-01T06:22:00.000-05:00

In the six articles we read for this week, I came to relate the articles to one another through two main questions. First and foremost, is the manner in which libraries are used determined by the society that frequents them, or do libraries shape the way that society uses them? Second is the question of the degree to which the ALA is guilty or not guilty of bad behavior over the years as described as Michael Harris--that is to say, are libraries merely tools of elitist suppression and assimiliation...and is this necessarily always a bad thing if it is true?

Article 1: The Use of Library and Educational Facilities by Russian-Jewish Immigrants in New York City, 1880-1914: The Impact of Culture

In this article, author Nelson R. Beck exposes a glaring flaw in Michael Harris's controversial revisionist history. While the author maintains that many of Harris's critiques of formative library culture ring true, he criticizes Harris's own selective use of facts, as well as Harris's own elitism. Beck admits that assimilation into American culture was the goal of many top-down organizations that intended to educate immigrants of all walks of life. "Indeed, Edward G. Hartmann contends that the Educational Alliance, the Aguilar Free Library, the Baron de Hirsch Fund, and the older Americanized Jewish population all worked for the assimilation and Americanization of the Russian Jews" (133). Another signal of top-down manipulation came in the form of librarians denying Russian Jew children material in their native languages (of course, some of this appears to have stemmed from demand for such material from adult users). In the end however, it appears (at least according to Beck) that immigrant Russian Jews shaped the use of the library to according to their own needs and because of a desire to be educated due to the conditions prescribed by their native culture--a direct assault on Harris's own assertion that immigrants did not care to be educated. "In spite of slaughter and destruction, the Russian Jews maintained an educational system that reflected and perpetuated their religion and culture. Central to this education was moral training through the home and Synagogue. The scripturers and the Talmud demanded education" (131). For many immigrants, "Americanization" was a voluntary process as since education was important to Russian Jews, they wanted to learn English. Libraries often reflected what their immigrant patrons wanted in the library. There was no shortage of periodicals in the Aguilar Libraries related to Jewish topics, and Jews in New York City started up at least eleven different newspapers. At the end of the article, the author admits that this is merely one case study, and that while Harris's own elitism and "historical tunnel vision" may have been misguided, in order for his vision to be fully refuted, many more immigrant populations' educational habits would have to be examined.

Questions:
1) To what extent did top-down assimilation strategies succeed? For example, did libraries succeed in creating a generational divide between young Russian Jews and their parents? Did libraries do anything that may have reinforced such a divide?
2) What are some of the ways in which Russian Jews had an impact on the institutions that helped educate them besides some of the reasons mentioned above?
3) Did Jewish culture have an effect on libraries more than libraries impacted Russian Jewish culture as Beck suggests? Is there a way to refute such a claim in favor of a top-down explanation?

Article 2: White Privilege in Library Land

This article proved a bit troublesome for me, because I could only answer half of the twelve "white privilege" questions with an unequivocal "yes." While I would not deny that I benefit from white privilege, I had to question if the twelve questions were indeed fair to the reader. In looking at the numbers provided by John D. Berry, the racial numbers regarding librarians who received higher education library degrees did not change in very significant ways over time--which is self-evidently significant in its own right. Perhaps we have not come as far racially as Americans as we would like to think we have since 1973. The only number that really evolved over this period is the massive growth in the percentage of females receiving upper level library degrees over their male counterparts.

Questions:
1) Is the growth in females receiving high level degrees (and hence, leadership positions) in librarianship a boon for women's equality, or does it only serve to reinforce irritating gender-related stereotypes within the library field?
2) How many of the questions provided by Barry did you answer "yes" to? Does this number vary depending on where you have worked in the past? Where does Wisconsin generally fit into this twelve question equation?

Article 3: Toward a Multicultural American Public Library History

"If historians choose to see libraries as earlier forms of communication and information technologies, then it might be possible to look for ways in which libraries and their constituents engaged in similar struggles against restrictions, sometimes on the same side and sometimes not" (78-79). This quote lies at the center of the question that I would like to address today. As Cheryl Knott Malone addresses in her essay, a study of library history and culture tends to focus on leaders--the movers and shakers in libraries from the top down. In our own studies of Apostles of Culture and The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown, we have often seen this to be true. By this time, we know the names of all sorts of prestigious librarians in our field today, as well as many of the prestigious librarians of history. Malone asserts that bottom-up activity holds plenty of sway on the library as well. She cites the impact of Polish and Russian Jewish people on library culture in America, for example. She claims that creating a multicultural library history would involve a study of use, users, and nonusers. In creating a multicultural history of Chicago, Malone suggests leaving no ethnic stone unturned in piecing together a bottom-up epic. As Malone cites, "Takaki asserts that only by recovering different pasts, told from divergent perspectives, can a full appreciation of the complexity of United States history can be reached." Too often, such histories are only told from the top-down instead of the bottom-up--a shift to the latter would be helpful in telling a more complete story with respect to any history.

1) If libraries are an earlier form of communication like the article suggests, what parallels can be drawn between the way the library is shaped and the way later communication technologies were shaped (think bottom-up vs. top-down, think technological determinism vs. social shaping of technology perspective)?
2) What are some reasons that historical stories always tend to be told from the top-down? Is it so difficult to imagine a world in which such stories are all told from a bottom-up perspective and the top-down point-of-view is neglected?
3) Why has such close attention been paid to black-white relations in library history as opposed to more focus on American immigrant history?

Article 4: The Ugly Side of Librarianship

This is an article in which Michael Harris's distaste for ALA self-aggrandizement seems to be warranted. While the ALA took responsibilty for immigrants (a widly diverse group), African-Americans were dismissed as being a problem too wildly divergent between various American regions. Such hypocrisy appears to be impossibly thick-headed for a supposedly progressive institution--at least on the surface. Hatred towards black people was intense enough in the South that librarians did not want to alienate their white patrons by admitting black people to their libraries. Again in American history, separate but "equal" was thought to be the only solution. Librarians such as Rachel Harris celebrated the existence of ANY library that catered to the African-American population, even employing the writings of W.E.B. DuBois to back up her position. After all, the library did indeed offer education for those for whom it was lacking. In fact, the opportunities provided by the Louisville Free Public Library (Eastern Colored Branch) allowed some African-Americans to become college students, medical students, or university professors. Through 1950, virtually no library in the South was truly "'unrestricted'" (86). Northern libraries weren't terribly accomodating, either. The ALA was a complicit partner in American racism.

1) Would integration in American libraries circa 1900-1950 have been asking for too much, too fast? Could libraries as well as society as a whole expect to see a backlash from forced integration too early? In matters of racism, is there ever any room for compromise--even though racism is wrong?
2) Why did immigrants receive special attention from the ALA and not black people? Could it be that Michael Harris is right?...that the ALA and other interested parties wanted to assimilate immigrants into American culture?...perhaps African-Americans were deliberately excluded from such assimilation?

Article 5: Breaking the Color Barrier: Regina Andrews and the New York Public Library

The story of Regina Andrews might be considered a story of "middle-up-and-down" as opposed to top down. She was a member of her Harlem community--an active participant in the Harlem Renaissance. From her position within the NYPL, she fought her superiors alongside W.E.B. DuBois for equal pay. Still, this is a bit of a top-down sort of act (while also fighting from the bottom-up)...she was a "mover and shaker" within the library, and eventually came to hold a position of prominence. Regina Andrews invited controversial topics into her library with open arms, but also was in charge of more mundane Family Night at the Library program, a program that died with her retirement.

1) "Perhaps, though, the very ethnic background that at first impeded her progress also gave her the strength to ultimately succeed" (419). Please relate this to Louise Robbins's discussion of Barack Obama and Geraldine Ferraro from last week.
2) Is this story more of a top-down or bottom-up affair? Please explain your answer.

Aricle 6: Gays in Library Land: The Gay and Lesbian Task Force of the American Library Association: The First Sixteen Years

While the ALA has been cowardly in taking a stand against discrimination in the past, there is an instance of forward thinking that might give Michael Harris reason to pause and take notice. In 1970, the ALA recognized the Task Force on Gay Liberation of the American Library Association. This group was responsible for such successes as the Gay Bibliography, the Gay Kissing Booth, and the Gay Book Award. Though "[their] job was as much to unsettle ALA over gay issues as to settle into the ALA fabric," the branch was still nonetheless approved by the ALA and its SRRT. The TGFL had its share of failures too, however. Their Gays in Hollywood Film project, AIDS Awareness Project, and a discrimination survey were all busts.

1) "And I think it was more than chance that ALA was the first professional organization to be liberated by gay activists. Librarians are after all committed to inquiry, the open mind, and dissemination of information" (92). Has it been your experience that this is entirely true of libraries? What about from 1970 to the present day?
2) Could such promotion of LGBT culture be considered top-down indoctrinating elitism as defined by Michael Harris?...or would this be a step foward according to Harris? (I'm asking because I really don't know.)

Libraries asssessments and futures...

2008-03-12T01:04:00.000-05:00

The writings for this week are in many ways foreshadows of current technology. In other ways they are the dream ideas of brilliant Futurists. Aspects of both types of thought can be seen in the Memex conceived by Vannevar Bush (no relation to George W. Bush).At its core his ideas were based on the premise that we did not lack the ideas or thoughts to propel society forward. Rather we lacked a way of accessing ideas and creating connections between diverse and divergent concepts. His Memex sought to “store” and “extend” concepts in order that they should be “useful to society” (Bush p.2). He places his technology and ideas within the framework of other advances, such as photography, film and recording devices and in many ways sells his ideas as a product that will revolutionize the way we think about information and ideas. His Memex is said by some to be an early form of the internet, sans worldwide connections, for its ability to place ideas in web-like frameworks of connectivity.

In the world of Bush and his allies, the world-wide web is not computer based but micro-film based. Surely he never considered the way that the technology degrades as Nicholson Baker would decry many decades later in DoubleFold . Such is the drumbeat of progress, considering more the desire to get someplace new than the ramifications of the journey. One has to wonder what the value of historical archives are if they are all degrading. Yet there is no consideration for the preservation of documents in their original form within the Memex.

The work of Bush sidles up nicely to Leigh’s The Public Library Inquiry inasmuch as one considers the way in which information can be shared for the purposes of research, and Leigh considers the way in which resources can be shared amongst libraries to build an efficient network of libraries that would share materials for the enjoyment of users and the cost-savings of taxpayers. It is rare in our society when bastions of culture and the arts as libraries are, are put under the microscope of scientific analysis in dry calculations that seeks to quantify all the meanings derived from the place and from the services derived within. How do you measure something that is at once the “People’s University” and at the same time (but perhaps in a separate room), a place for the education of children (p.225)?

Written in the 1950’s during the rise of the interstate fast-car society, the chapter entitled “The Direction of Development” calls for centralization to take advantage of economies of scale, and provide an equalization of resources between smaller and larger libraries. The document further tells of the expansion of the libraries role as educator of adults and children. At the time of writing, the school library as we know it today had not yet come into being. Therefore it was impressed upon both the schools and the public library to make materials and staff resources available to younger students. To this end, the document calls increased training of librarians for this role, in both school libraries and in the public library sector.

While the document touches on many topics, the ultimate theme is the need for streamlining, Definition of duties and the efficient provision of resources to carry out those duties.

Pennavaria’s 2002 work Representation of Books and Libraries in Depictions of the Future captures a more modern perspective on our never diminishing fascination with The Library of the Future. She divides tales of the future into the categories of “utopian” or “dystopian” (p.230). That is to say happy tales and sad tales. Pennavaria speaks of Orwell’s 1984, and provides this writer a means of connection to another of this week’s writings, Bush’s “As We May Think” *(1945), which she notes is both hopeful in its offer of salvation through technology, but also cautionary in his plead that technology can be peaceful, even as he is aware of the constant drumbeats for war.

One has to wonder if the futuristic idea of “Libraries as community center” came from librarians as a gift to the writer, or if the futurists gifted us with this concept (p.237). Just as little thought was given to the mechanisms that would increase the speed of knowledge acquisition according to Pennavaria, so too was little consideration given to the types of people that would use the library. Could they know that libraries would collect GLBT works, that they would house original copies of infamous works such as Mein Kampf? Just as they had no idea about the mechanics of technology, so too it would seem that they had little idea about the human mechanics of support for libraries – staff members and interest groups that form the backbone coalition for the support of any library.

Sapp’s Early Visions of Future Librarianship begins with Ranganathan’s 5^th law of Library Science that “the Library is a growing organism’ (p.xi). He begins with Dewey’s hope for the future of the library and uses that as a catapult to discuss the dreams of other library greats. During the early years, were obsessed with notions of professionalization, such that it had to be overtly stated that librarianship existed as Bibliothecal Science (P.xiv).

As was noted in the readings for last week, wars played an important role in defining the mission of the library. They also played a role in increasing the visibility of librarians, even as it came late to the idea of the library as a proponent of democracy. The writer notes the “technical” aspects of early training and efforts to develop curriculum that reflected the desired higher status. Specialization was one method used to both enhance the status of librarians and enhance the level of service available for the growing needs for academic and corporate librarians. The overall training was touted alongside aspirations for the increase in cultural impact and relevance of librarians in wider society

Other descriptions sought to clarify divisions of labor, monetary support for librarianship through endowments and the role of librarians as intelligent gatekeepers of the new information economy. Throughout the work, one has to wonder where the line between the formation of new mission statements and pure aspirational wishes lay. At some point like the rantings of those who insist on the existence of extra-terrestrial races, one has to wonder if the fantastical writings of Futurists enhanced or in fact diminished the credibility of librarians in the mind of the public.

Discussions for 11 Mar 2008

2008-03-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

Article 1
Leigh’s article pieces discuss the future of public library function and action from a 1950 perspective. Interestingly, the report was not done by the library itself; rather, the ALA contracted the Social Science Research Council to do so in order to gain a more objective and independent judgment. In the prose and setup of the article, there is definitely a noted difference in their approach opposed to many of the articles we have read from an internal library perspective. The Public Library Inquiry aims to evaluate the library’s success in terms of its own goals as well as their aptness within the framework of American social and cultural institutions. The author proposes increased funding and bureaucratic organization to better run the library in the coming decade.

(1) In discussing the alternate directions proposed by some librarians in the beginning of part II, Leigh presents a tension between catering to public demand and providing “valuable” information and resources to society. How do you think the public library has handled this balance since 1950, and do you agree with the study’s suggestions on pp. 234-5? (On a more personal note for us: are collections of video games and popular music in College Library warranted? Does this detract from the purpose of collegiate libraries?) Why (not)?
(2) Wisconsin’s share of public library systems costs is 8.1% and the 2007-2009 proposed budget aims to maintain this level. Do you think the state, based on Leigh’s analysis, has a higher obligation to contribute to the financial aid of libraries or are other pressing issues more important? How should the government appropriate funds to their public library institutions?
(3) In his general summation of the library’s future, Leigh remarks that the library “would provide people of all ages in all places in the U.S. with abundant opportunity to learn so far as library materials can give that opportunity.” Based on historical context and our previous readings, do you think the library truly catered to this goal, or was it more geared toward the middle-class white population?

Article 2
In this article, Bush proposes potential new paths for peacetime physicists to follow. No longer able to focus on the more war-related elements of physics, they are now encouraged by Bush to use their skills for the maintenance and retention of stored knowledge. Focusing on “the record,” physicists can use technology to find innovative ways of information storage (microfilm), transcription (like the Voder and Vocoder), performing mathematics, and effective means of research. While not all of Bush’s article concentrates directly on the library, his methods and applications definitely transfer over to library processes and ways to manage information and collections, most importantly in how to preserve access to such information. Through Bush, the library and scientific communities merge, lending themselves to one another.

(1) Discussing photography and its potential use in microfilm records, Bush suggests something that could clear space in the library rendering hard copy books, magazines, newspapers, etc. almost unnecessary. Obviously, microfilm today is not the technological innovation of the century to revolutionize library storage, but might the Internet have a similar effect? Does this outlet of information threaten the necessity of such hard copies as well? Why or why not?
(2) Bush mentions the difficulty of actually being able to consult “the record” (for libraries – their collections and resources), but the librarian is a professional who can maneuver through such complicating records and collections. If physicists are able to simplify this process for the common library patron, how might this affect the role of the librarian?
(3) Based on all of Bush’s suggestions, what do you think is technology’s role in the library? How has the Memex from 1945 come into the contemporary library?

Article 3
Pennavaria, in her article, discusses the future of the library and books/information in general – not through her own predictions, but rather through writings of fiction and nonfiction by other authors. She focuses mostly on how writers in the past thought information access would be in the future. Fiction writing, she claims, tends to focus more on long-term future and make more concrete predictions about how the library will actually BE in the future. However, fiction does not necessarily attempt to prophesize (is that a word?), instead it expresses the writer’s own fears and beliefs about the potential of their own society – most often for the worst. Pannevaria cites numerous fiction examples where books and information are completely destroyed by an overbearing government, reflecting the value of books for independent thought and existence. Nonfiction, on the other hand, tends to be more conservative in their predictions. She references a few articles relating to technology, but points out that most deal more with the actual role of the library. Librarians themselves were the optimistic futurists, believing the library will remain similar but grow in importance and become a true cultural center. Interestingly, aspects of their predictions – whether literally or in a more figurative sense – can today be found in the modern library.

(1) As noted in Pennevaria’s description of fiction, there seems to have existed a deep-seated fear about a society losing its information exposure and retention. Was their fear valid and can you see its repercussions today? What parts of fictitious predictions came true?
(2) Why might the librarians have been the only “optimistic futurists?”
(3) Charles Cutter in 1883 offered the fantasy that all libraries in the country would be technologically connected and open every day. To what extent was Cutter correct?
(4) In the Cambridge Review one author makes a social commentary about the university libraries and its need to be run by scholars instead of bureaucrats. Has the university situation improved in your eyes?

Article 4
Sapp details thoughts about future librarianship and libraries throughout different decades since the ALA’s establishment in 1876. While obviously concerns change with the times, it is surprising to see how many elements remain the same (concerns over technology, proper organization, supply/demand). Between 1876-1900 Sapp cites concerns over the social agenda for librarians, and between 1900 and 1945 a sense of civic responsibility only increased with the outbreaks of World Wars I and II. The question of getting information to patrons remained a large issue throughout the 20th century as librarians were unsure and in disagreement whether technology should aid the library, and if so, how. After 1946, as academic scholarship changed and increased, the library further questioned how it would meet the demands of its new and ever-growing patronage and the appropriate technology to aid them along. Even today, we see this debate in libraries over the future role of technology as the library enters the digital world as well as keeping its foot in print culture.

(1) After 1900, many librarians asserted the library’s continual role in adult education. Do you think this role continues today? What does this role say about the library’s view of civic responsibility? Have the libraries “fundamental values remained in tact”?
(2) What do disagreements over computers in the library say about the debate that goes on today and the library’s sensitivity to tradition?
(3) Do you see a heaver dependence on technology in the library – and reduction in print resources – as a reality?

Readings for Week 7: Libraries and War

2008-03-03T07:48:00.000-06:00

Good morning, class...we are classmates Ruby LeGault and Amanda Kramer. The following text is a brief overview of our week's reading along with questions suited for discussion.

First article
Wiegand discusses the effects of WWI on Wisconsin public libraries.
He shows how libraries worked with federal, state and local governments
and how they worked independently to aid the war effort as they saw
fit. Wisconsin public libraries stream-lined services and increased
professionalism by focusing on library management and information
retrieval. At the same time, however, these libraries were disseminating
propaganda and censoring library materials.

“In Service to the State” questions

1) What are some differences that Wiegand sees between the missions of
public libraries in the in the pre-WWI era, in the years before U.S.
involvement in the war and once the U.S had declared war? Why? What
stayed the same? Why?

2) What do American public libraries' actions during WWI say about the
debate between putting emphasis on providing resources and service based
on the demands of the public vs. putting emphasis on upholding higher
ideals (i.e. self-education)?

Second article
At the onset of the U.S.’s involvement in WWII the ALA established
methods with which to “meet the needs of a nation at war.” Not everyone
in the library community agreed that change was necessary or how
libraries could be changed to best serve America. In some cases,
libraries were faced with changing populations of patrons or patrons
that wanted new or different information. Some in the library community
saw an alliance with government agencies as critical to the success and/or survival
of the public library.

“To Meet the Needs of a Nation at War” questions

1) Why were public libraries’ willing to undergo the changes that they
did during WWII? How were these changes in missions similar and/or
different from the changes in libraries during WWI? Why?

2) How do the shortfalls that public libraries faced when trying to work
with government agencies (USIS, OCD, OFF and OWI) reflect larger
problems within the public library system?

Third article
During WWII public libraries dealt with tightening budgets, but expected to meet
head-on with ALA policy and patron demands. Not all librarians were enthusiastic about
censorship but the ALA actively worked to make the government recognize
libraries as a viable means to disseminate propaganda. On the whole,
libraries provided recreational reading for children, adults and
servicemen although circulation numbers decreased during the war.

“In Time of War” questions

1) Did public libraries fail in WWII? If so, what would a failure mean
for libraries in the post war period?

2) Do you see Becker’s description of a post-9/11 library as realistic
or “the norm”? Does anyone want to share their personal experiences in
post-9/11 and post-Patriot Act public libraries?

Fourth article
After the fall of Baghdad the Iraqi city experienced widespread looting of
museums and libraries. The military seemed to have failed to anticipate
the looting despite warning from various institutions and scholars - and
also failed to stop it once it had started. While Iraqis lamented the
losses, some members of the U.S. government and media downplayed or
- acc. to the author- outrightly denied the effects of the looting. The loss of cultural
artifacts comes at the detriment to the Iraqi identity, global cultural
and history.

“Errors of Omission and Cultural Destruction in Iraq” questions

1) According to Knuth, was the U.S. government’s failure to prevent/
stop looting of cultural artifacts malicious or was it more a product of
ignorance? Do you agree, why or why not? Should it matter especially to
librarians?

2) What is the result of losing the materials that were looted?
How do you think it may impact the Iraqi people as a whole?

3) How does reflecting on the use of propaganda and censorship in the
World Wars clarify or complicate our understanding of what is currently
happening in Iraq (and the U.S.)?

New Resource

2008-02-24T11:23:00.000-06:00

Wiegand to write new public library history
A Florida State University professor has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to write a book exploring the history of public libraries in the United States. Wayne A. Wiegand, the F. William Summers Professor of Library and Information Studies, received a $50,000 fellowship to write his proposed book, A People’s History of the American Public Library, 1850–2000, which will explore the roles the public library has played in the community, in the life of the reader, and as an information provider....
Florida State University, Feb. 14

http://link.ixs1.net/s/lt?id=o332393&si=a126422289&pc=v2088&ei=s179181

Carnegie Library redesign

2008-02-23T19:06:00.000-06:00

I thought this reconceptualization of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which made a tremendous splash in library circles for its innovative (to libraries) methods as well as its results, might provide a useful modern counterpoint to the Van Slyck book.

Edited to add: Also consider Dan Chudnov's comparison of free and open-source software with Carnegie on the axes of need and philanthropy.

Beautiful Libraries

2008-02-20T22:55:00.000-06:00

Hello all. . .from an architectural viewpoint here are many beautiful libraries from around the world.

http://curiousexpeditions.org/2007/09/a_librophiliacs_love_letter_1.html

Welcome Stranger

2008-02-19T23:00:00.000-06:00

In relation to today's conversation, I stumbled upon this wonderful and very recent report regarding library services to immigrants. I downloaded it (it takes a while) and it is fabulous. I am contacting the Urban Libraries Council to ask for a couple of copies for our class. Enjoy!

Released: January, 2008
Welcome Stranger: Public Libraries Build the Global Village

“In March 2007, The Urban Libraries Council conducted a survey of its members, gathering data on the ways in which urban public libraries are involved with the transition of immigrants into American life. The findings of the survey, augmented with data collected in another 2003 member survey, are summarized in this report. They show that urban public libraries are in the forefront of the effort to make their cities stronger by welcoming and integrating new residents from all over the world.

Download the full report at:
http://www.hypersimulation.com/ulc/ULC_WS.zip

2/18 Articles and Discussion

2008-02-18T13:52:00.000-06:00

Group 4- Cindy and Val
The readings for this week cover a wide variety of historical documentation. The first article, to get our minds rolling, is by Elaine Fain. She discuses, in great detail, the Americanization Programs of 1900-1925, as well as the impact and formation of social reform and improvement. This was a period in history of rapid growth. This growth spurt came in the form industrialization as well as immigration. Immigration was the building block of early library growth. Fain states that between 1890 and 1910 American public libraries “developed most of the systems and services we take for granted today.” This population explosion of the 19th century included a vast amount of immigrants with little or no “American” education. The library became the means in which to educate and assimilate these new arrivals, especially the children. This idea of educating the non-English speaking community, and the effort that went into it, was an approach that was very successful. Do we, as librarians in the 21st century, see this concept as the corner stone of developing and furthering the strength of our current “system?” (The continuing education of the immigrants and assimilation into “our” society?) Our current government doesn’t seem to think that letting outside individuals into our country is worthy goal. . .
A statement made by the Sons of the American Revolution stated, “This is a great country, may you be worthy of it.” What are your thoughts on that statement?
The increased growth of individuals and outbreak of WWI furthered the development of concerns. Americans soon developed a (greater) distrust of the immigrants within the society during the early 19th century. Thus, the materials that were used to educate and assist immigrants became a means of discussion and concern. In other words, the materials caused problems among the ranks. Do you see the idea of pamphlets for immigrants to understand American culture as being misguided and elitist, or was this actually constructive step in the right direction?
The obviously “elitist” society that had formed and supported the library required a change in order to serve a purpose in modern society. How has social education (reform/improvement) changed now? As history often repeats itself, was this the beginning of an end? Librarians have considered themselves to be “vigorous reformers.” Do librarians still seem to be doing what they, from their egalitarian point of view, see as being the “best” for their customers, or have they demonstrated willingness to conform to a changing society?

Christine Pawley’s article was a very interesting look into a remarkable early reformer within Wisconsin in the character of Lutie Stearns. The impact that her actions had was amazing, as the traveling library seemed to be the early form of the book mobile. Stearn’s dedication and perseverance in getting books to those who needed them was amazing, especially since she had to fight her misconceptions of her gender, petty county boards, the disinterest of her patrons, and the extreme distances she had to travel to get the books where they needed to go. This concept of spreading knowledge and information throughout the country was actually quite revolutionary for the time, especially when we consider that although books where becoming more widely available, they were still expensive and not necessarily considered a priority. Also, since many librarians of the time only paid lip service (rather than practice) to the idea of “the right of citizens to equal information access,” Stearns did actually seemed to accomplish this goal through the sheer force of her strong personality and dedication.
We saw the formation of an early bureaucracy here; as Stearns did keep extensive notes about circulation, book interest, etc. This seemed to be used, in many cases, to show that the library actually was effective. It was interesting to see here that although Stearns had expected people to be interested in books beyond popular fiction, this was often as in every other library not the case. Do you see the travelling libraries as one more idealistic idea of the early library history, or was it actually effective? Was Lutie Stearns a part of the elitist culture of the early library, or do you see her as working against the tide?

Check out these Web sites:
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/timeline-wi.htm and
http://my.execpc.com/~nixlt/traveling.htm
http://www.knls.or.ke/camel.htm

The last article is rich in history, as well. Written, in part, by Phyllis Dain, it touches upon several historical timeframes and the concurrent problems within those timeframes. One major concern was, and still may be, the formation of collections. Does one collect for popular demand or does one “aim for diffusion of knowledge?” Perhaps not so much of a concern in the 21st century, but as discussed later in the article, one has to take into consideration the “matching the acquisitions of library materials to the lifestyles and occupations of clientele.” This concern does continue with a constantly changing society.
The authors discussed in great detail the comparison of public librarians of being in a position of a “Scylla and Charybdis” situation. This is often true in many aspects of daily life, and with this article one can include the library culture as well, as one never can fully realize the implications that this situation holds for one in the library infrastructure. For example, what are the dangers of growing too comfortable in doing things in one set in stone way? What should libraries ban, what should they not to ban? And, if libraries do ban books, we know if people want something bad enough, they WILL find a way to get it. This being true, is it the public library’s job to provide it? How does one impose certain view on the dissemination of knowledge when there is such a large multitude of individuals to serve? One danger leads to another. . .
Historically, as we all know, libraries have gone through times of great efficacy and times of difficulty in doing so, which the authors emphasize. They mention the formation of committees and structural integration of strategies that have/had impact on what we call “library systems,” as well as the idea of marketing the library to fight trends of deteriorating user value. How does one successfully market library services? We also saw the attempt to determine exactly what the mission of the library should be going into the future. This started in the 70’s and continued through the decades. Does it seem like a cohesive purpose was really ever created? Who actually utilizes (greatest use) libraries today? Should the library become like a business (such as Barnes and Noble) that is a “private enterprise serving only those who can afford to pay?” On a related note, the idea of the McLibrary seems to represent a response to our “need it now” culture. Are you offended by this representation of the library, or is this one of the necessary facets of the library for it to survive in our culture?

The Apostles of Culture

2008-02-12T10:44:00.000-06:00

In reading The Apostles of Culture, it became very clear that Melville Dewey’s ideas for standardizing the library and his contemporaries’ attempts at social control were the defining factors of the early library. While Dee Garrison’s highly developed research on these areas was very informative, I found her discussion of “pernicious” literature and the role of women in the library to be much more fascinating. Overall though, it would have been impossible to really grasp any of the pieces of the library’s history without taking into account Garrison’s thoughtful depiction of its dynamics as a whole.
Garrison’s first job in re-creating the landscape of the 1870’s was to show the reader the class dynamics occurring in that period. For the first time, it was possible for a person to have money without being raised in an upper class family. Thus, there formed two classes: the gentry elite and the business elite. Garrison says that the gentry elite’s response to this shift was to “cling to literary idealism (p 13),” so rather than make any changes, they preferred to try and order the universe around how their sense of things was. The general slowing of religious behavior and less rigid rules about sexuality were just the beginning of cultural changes that completely threw them off balance. The library then seemed to be an attempt to stave off the gentry elite’s feeling that most of the world, and the people in it, were out of control.
With a few exceptions, most of the early librarians were part of this class. Most notable about the early librarians then was a seeming “inability to settle down into their life work (p 18).” Main players included Justin Winsor, William Frederick Poole, and Charles Cutter. These men were the early leaders in libraries, and while they set the tone for a while, already heading into their forties, they were immediately almost a part of the old guard. On the whole, this meant that although they were somewhat innovative at the time for their more passionate attitude toward librarianship and their efforts to increase circulation and organization in the library, they did not seem to accept Melville Dewey’s call to move forward. Garrioson said that Winsor, for example, couldn’t understand Dewey’s “bustling adoration for technical solutions (p 27),” and Poole refused to implement the idea of fixed location books (p 29).
In contrast from these almost shiftless, although well educated early librarians, Dewey made librarianship his life’s work. He was obsessed with not wasting time, and before he had even finished his junior year in college at Amherst, Dewey had created and implemented a new library classification system (p 115). Despite Dewey’s growing reputation as a librarian with novel, useful ideas, Dewey’s business, professional, and personal affairs seemed to be led by one frustrating guiding principle-
“his ability to work mightily for his own advancement while genuinely believing he cared only for the good of others (p 116).”
Dewey’s high moral standards were shared (at least on the surface) by many of his upper class, educated contemporaries. While Dewey did seem to be sincere in his beliefs, the educated elite’s objections on the whole to fiction on the basis of immorality Garrison saw as something more sinister than religiosity alone. There was at the time a population of “religious rabble that challenged established patterns of distribution,” and most literature that the upper class objected to on moral grounds seemed to challenge this as well. Rather than reading this trash, upholders of the status quo were convinced that if unsatisfied labor workers everywhere would just read about business and capitalism, they would suddenly understand “the intricacies of efficient moneymaking (p 47),” and stop striking and forming unions to ask for more money.
In my favorite part of the book, Garrison outlined some of the plots of the objectionable literature of the time. Many of these authors wrote chiefly for women, and their theme centered around “rejection of traditional authority, particularly in domestic life, in religious life, and in matters concerning class distinction (p 75).” These characters- voluptuous, head strong Belinda, dauntless, man subduing May, and Edna Earl, who takes on education and then man with a fervor nearing religious (p 77), all seem a little silly, but for the woman who functioned essentially as a second class citizen, they must have been a breath of fresh air. Moreover, Garrison’s depictions of these heroines demonstrated exactly what most real women of the time were not-especially in the library world.
While Dewey continued to take on libraries with mechanical efficiency, simultaneously endearing and antagonizing library boards with his presumptuousness, Garrison says that he also “openly recruited cultured and educated women to library service (p 128).” This, perhaps equal with the Dewey Decimal System, seems to be have been Dewey’s dubious legacy. Not only did he set the tone for women as the main purveyors of library culture, he also began the trend to pay women less than half of what men made. Even past the middle of the century, women were supposed to feel almost lucky to work, and recognize that their real compensation- the good they were doing, could “never be measured by salary scales…she knows…of that satisfaction which comes of being needed and used (p 228).”
This summary barely scrapes the barrel of the library’s relatively short history. In just under 250 pages, Dee Garrison was able to show her reader not only what she felt where the main motivations of the early library, but also who the main players where, and how the library evolved to eventually come to become what seems very laissez-fair in comparison. Perhaps most importantly was what female librarians accomplished, almost in spite of their low value, which was the eventual creation of vibrant children’s libraries. By the end of the book, I really felt I had a good picture of the best and worst sides of the library, with a dose of thoughtful social commentary to really round it off.

Manners and morals in the public library

2008-02-11T22:08:00.001-06:00

In Elaine Fain's article, we see the somewhat contradictory statements made by Harris and Garrison; on the one hand we see the library as being cold, elite, and institutional, on the other, we see it as "too homey, passive, and suppliant." Since it is difficult to believe that the same libraries were two such opposite places. In her examination, Fain revisits much of the library history that Harris and Garrison do, going over the desire of the upper classes to "crusade against ignorance, vice, subversion, and possible revolution." She especially emphasizes Harris's attempt to trace library history along with the history of public schools, in that both created a myth about their humanitarian mission that reinforced their existence in society. Fain felt that the big difference lay in the fact that children could be forced to school, while libraries were generally institutions for "self development." Because of this need to attract, as Fain put it a "clientele," libraries developed along the lines of a service and hospitality organization. The conceptions of the time (in addition to a willingness to work for low pay) made it seem almost natural then that women would work in this capacity. Fain seemed to think that both Harris and Garrison picked and choose what literature and history was used as evidence, which is how their conflicting views of the library were formed. Despite this, Fain seemed to come to the conclusion that the articles were valuable in conjunction with each other, as they both raised new questions and examined ideas and pictures of the institution that had not been done before. On an interesting note, her final sentence seemed almost a reproof of the scholar’s studies, which we see when she states, “The new moralists may prove as hide-bound as the old.”

The humanitarian idea

2008-02-11T22:06:00.000-06:00

In Sidney Ditzion’s article, the purpose of the library seemed to be in the main to “save” the poor and idle from the multiple evils that preyed on their uneducated minds. Young unmarried girls were meant to have a sanctuary, intellectuals an “escape to culture,” and “livelier scenes of a brighter world” for the poor working man. How these were to exist in one public library is unclear, because we assume the moralist who wanted to eradicate the menace of pernicious literature and distribute temperance literature to the masses would not want all these people to mingle, but of course the vision presented here is somewhat idealist (which is a good reflection of the hopeful mood of the time), and was never really realized.
Nonetheless, Ditzion believed that the statistics relating to the library and crime were favorable, such that in one city, arrests decreased by 142 in the same year that a library opened. These statistics are perhaps a little suspect, but although Ditzion mentioned that it was thought that the library could be used to encourage temperance, he noted that this was somewhat hard to do in practice, partly because of lack of funding, and what appeared to be a lack of interest.
Ditzion also mentioned that in general librarians did not take much initiative to create the mission of the library- rather, this was more often left to the trustees. Overall, Ditzion stated that this “humanitarian rationale [was] campaign material for more and better supported libraries.” He did not seem to regard this as necessarily a bad thing, but he did admit that while democratic principles were generally striven for, as often as not, different groups did try to force their ideas onto others.

How to make town libraries Successful

2008-02-11T22:04:00.000-06:00

This reading was very much characterized by the earnestness with which F.B. Perkins treated the matter of running a library. This makes sense though, as when he wrote it in 1876, libraries were still very fledgling operations. His first piece of guidance, that the library is to be treated as a business, is an interesting one, since the library has to balance being solvent on the one hand, and serving the public in a friendly way on the other. Perkins characterized these competing needs in an interesting way stating that a library is based upon “continual watchfulness, tact, and alertness with which not the wishes of the learned men, but the public demand for entertaining reading, is understood, and met and gratified, and managed.”
This service of entertaining reading seemed a bit conflicting to Perkins though. Although he felt the habit of easy reading must be formed by reading books one wants to read, he also felt there were some books a person just must NOT read. While I can understand this, the list he provided made the line very thin- how can one say yes to some things and no to others, and in doing this, who exactly is meant to be the final judge on what is and isn’t a “proper subject for contemplation by all”?
Going back to the business aspect of the library, I thought the detail Perkins went into shows a lot about how fledgling and open to interpretation the library was. While things like a catalogue or a record and delivery and return of books might seem like common sense, the basics had to be laid down first for us to get to that point. His minute descriptions of the library give a lot of credence to the idea that early library science focused to a very large degree on the practical side of cataloguing, policing, etc. I think Perkins did recognize that a librarian was meant to serve the public too though, as we see when he states it is the librarian’s duty “not only to give out and take back books, but it ought to keep its friends and to make new ones.” While this makes sense, I feel as though the burden of pressure to be both friendly and efficient at the same time must have been overwhelming at times.

The purpose of the American library

2008-02-11T22:03:00.000-06:00

Michael H. Harris’s basic contention in his article is that the public library as the “people’s university” is a myth that librarians have perpetuated to make the institution seem more lofty. Quite to the contrary, he saw the library as “cold, rigidly inflexible, and elitist institutions,” which became that way largely from the influence of people like George Ticknor. While he has been portrayed as being “liberal and a democrat who welcomed change,” Harris seemed to think that his enthusiasm for libraries was not so much about the betterment of the masses for their own sakes, and more about assimilating the masses to bring them “in willing subjection to our own institutions.”
This idea is somewhat questionable to me, as there was no way he could force people to go to the library, and even if they did go, there is no guarantee that they would read the “right” material that would force them around to his way of thinking.
Although Ticknor did believe in “healthy general reading,” on the whole his aristocratic beliefs were reflected in the people that ran the libraries, which not only offended many patrons, but their belief that they knew best left them “totally unfamiliar with the needs, capabilities, and aspirations of the common man.”
This effort to educate the uniformed and unwashed continued to prove unsuccessful mostly due to continuing holier than thou attitudes, until finally librarians began to question just what their mission was supposed to be. Some seemed to feel providing people with the popular literature that they seemed to want was enough, others felt it was time to admit that the library’s real audience were middle class people- but Harris says that continuing endowment of libraries by millionaires like Andrew Carnegie let the idea of library as social improver of the masses continue for a long time despite evidence to the contrary.
This idea was generally let go in favor of the idea of the library as upholder of democracy and “people’s right to know,” but in general this went hand in hand with the final acceptance that the library’s real audience were people of a position similar to the librarians running the institutions. Overall, Harris took a very cynical outlook, going so far as to say that libraries are no longer considered important, and may be facing extinction if a better expression of purpose is not devised.

Ambivalence and Paradox

2008-02-11T22:01:00.000-06:00

Phyllis Dain’s article was an answer to Harris’s, and one of her main arguments was similar to Robert William’s article in our earlier readings, which is that studies of library history tend to generalize small instances as being indicative of the whole, which we see very clearly when she states “a new set of beliefs has been postulated without rigorous analysis, solid verification, or appreciation of complexity.”
Dain too mentions Ticknor and other’s wish “the lower classes could be integrated into society through education,” she also states that it makes sense that people with money would create libraries. After all, as she said, who else would have the time or capital to do so in the days before tax supported libraries? In further discussion, Dain also brings up Harris’s point that most librarians were middle class. While she agrees it is possible the middle class attitude had a certain effect on the patrons, she again says, who else could have done the job, because “bookish people, like intellectuals generally, seldom came from the unpropertied and poorly educated masses.”
In relation to whether to give popular fiction to patrons, Dain characterized the problem to be largely one of maintaing credibility- for if the library was intended to uplift and educate, it was hard to imagine that “they abandon cannons of literary taste to cater to the less sophisticated,” which she believes we are still dealing with in modern libraries.

Questions for week 3 readings:

2008-02-04T19:22:00.001-06:00

Public service and the public library:

In her analysis of Garrison, Fain quotes: "librarians tended to 'serve' the reader, rather than to help ... [they] felt a a strong obligation to meet the needs of the public and were self-consciously sensitive to requests and complaints of the client," (Garrison quote by Fain, 103).

F. B. Perkins suggests the following: "... a perfect librarian is bound to be courteous and kind, attentive and accommodating, not only to the polite and considerate, but also to the evil and the unthankful," (Perkins, 427). Perkins goes on to say, "so far as circumstances permit, the library should do whatever is asked of it," (Perkins, 428).

Questions: To what degree are public service roles the same today? How do they differ? Does the public dictate the actions of the public library, or does the public librarian dictate the actions of the patron? Is there a balance? Is the public library of today (21st century) more involved with the community, inside and outside the structure of the library itself?

In F. B. Perkins "how-to" the public library is compared to a small business in its function for a small town - regarding this small business management, he states "a small library ... depends, if not even from month to month, certainly from year to year, upon the continual watchfulness, tact, and alertness with which not the wishes of learned men, but the public demand for entertaining reading is understood and met and gratified and managed," (Perkins, 420).

Questions: To what degree does the public library still refrain from functioning for the scholar, and rather exist for the public at large, the community, the working person? Is the public library of today still generally concerned with the "stuff in it" (i.e. books over the people), or do the people (staff included!) play a larger role in todays efforts within the library system?

In Michael Harris' revisionist historical interpretation, he mentions the taboo nature of censorship in libraries, and how in the libraries developmental stages, censorship was indeed "frequently used in the pages of professional literature ... [and] the librarian was responsible for keeping certain books from the public," (Harris, 2511).

Questions: To what degree does censorship play a role in libraries today (think about the library of the future scandal in San Fransisco), and how does a library guard against censorship, if it is as taboo as Harris mentions? Is there a difference in book "censorship" in public verses academic libraries (consider the function of a locked case in a library)? What about banned books, and how they are kept out of public schools, and to what degree out of public libraries?

In Elaine Fain's article the matter of user retention appears - as it does in the Harris article - and the issue if tossed around with unknown results. She emphasizes that "one could entice or browbeat an adult into entering a public library, but there was no way to force him to stick ... public libraries were faced with the problem of attracting and keeping clientele," (Fain, 102). Similarly, but more dramatically, Harris 'sweepingly' states at the end of his article that "people no longer see the library as important," (Harris, 2514).

Questions: What methods of retention are in place for the public libraries of today? Is keeping the community in the library still a problem? In cities where academic libraries are more prevalent, does the public library suffer? What "marketing" strategies are utilized for public libraries today, and how do some of these strategies crossover into other types of libraries, or other public institutions?

Regarding the Dain article:

Dain (263) notes that "generalizations about attitudes and motives of the early librarians must be limited due to the lack of substantive studies upon which to base such assessments". In a field populated by experts with history and\or English backgrounds why has so little been written about the field of librarianship?

Dain (262): How has the historically "conservative motives" and "ameliorative means" of early library leaders such as Ticknor affected the way we ask for funding and position ourselves in the past and in the present?

Dain (264) suggests that there was a desire for libraries to be taken seriously in early librarianship. Serious books and a scholarly disposition was a hallmark of the orientation of the day. To what degree did this affect the materials collected and the populations served?

Dain (266): According to Amitai Etzioni "low effectiveness in achieving institutional goals is characteristic of organizations". In what ways have libraries achieved their goals or failed to meet them? In what way have the goals changed?

Thanks!
Kristina and Petey (group 3).

Public Library as Dependent Variable

2008-02-03T21:42:00.000-06:00

This article was most interesting to me because it took the study of social science and history as that which could work under the same methods as other scientific study. It seems that Williams viewed most of the arguments as faulty because they did not have enough proof to really back them up. For example, Williams shot down Shera’s blanket statement that his theories were “equally applicable elsewhere” as an untested hypothesis, and that which “ignores differences in library development that might be the result of the variables of time and region.”
Williams also described the democratic tradition theory as a myth used by librarians partially because the plea for a library in the name of democracy was the most likely to succeed. While this makes sense, I can see why this idea has endured, because it is rather noble sounding.
In discussing the theory of social control in the creation of libraries, Williams again highlighted the lack of real evidence in support of this. While there were certain, as he called it “typologies” that described the phenomenon, the case of the libraries endowed by Andrew Carnegie seemed to be in opposition to this, because he took very little interest in directing the mission of the libraries.Overall, while I can understand Williams assertion that we need concrete evidence to make theories about the development of the library, it doesn’t seem quite that simple. Especially if we try to go back to the very beginning days of the library, much of that evidence is hard to find now, and generalities now almost seem like it would be the closest we can come to any real understanding. Where he certainly did seem to get it right was in saying that a library is the summation of many different causes, all of which probably did have a big impact on how the library developed.

Causal Factors in Development

2008-02-03T21:00:00.000-06:00

In this article, the thing that most surprised me was the statement that libraries were "forced on society." The availability of a large amount of books on a variety of topics for free is like second nature to me. The fact that people once had to try and find books they needed for research in a time when there was no centralized way to communicate is therefore completely shocking to me.
I think it is worth some thought then that the first libraries had a lot more to do with rich white men leaving their mark on the world and cities achieving national distinction rather than people actually wanting read. Perhaps this had something to do with the decreased literacy and lack of free time of the time period?
One quote that I really enjoyed was George Ticknor's statement in a letter, "in its main department and purpose should differ from all free libraries yet attempted...one in which popular books...should be furnished in such numbers of copies that many persons, if they desired it, could be reading the same book at the same time." This idea seems a very revolutionary one for the time, in that previous to the library, it would have been impossible for this occurrence to even happen. Ticknor's idea is especially novel in relation to Quincy's seeming desire to legislate what people could and could not read.
Finally, it was really cool to read about when people first actually did take a vested interest in the public library, as it seemed to coincide with the very beginning of the industrial revolution, when people had some (if somewhat small at the time) way to better themselves with a large proliferation of jobs. While Shera raised the possibility that the library was a way for rich white men to get control over the lower classes, it seems as though the availability of books became a way for them to "raise...out of the ranks of the day laborer and into the middle class."

Public Libraries in the United States

2008-02-03T20:37:00.000-06:00

While reading this article, although I was glad that Quincy understood how amazing it was for the common man to be able to access all sorts of books, I was saddened how this was dampened by his paternalistic outlook. While it could be true that a reader can get more from a book of non-fiction book than a fiction one, it seemed very silly when he stated that physicians have found that romantic literature is the "fruitful cause of evil to youth of both sexes." Not only do I find it hard to believe that they could know this with any degree of certainty, but I have also read a lot of fiction that made me think about things in entirely new ways- and I'm pretty sure that fiction did not lead me to evil.
His statement that some people felt it "to be the duty of the State to supply boys and girls with dime novels," was interesting also, because although perhaps dime novels are not the best choice of reading material, at least it serves as a segueway into reading, which would perhaps lead to more worthwhile material. Without that initial spark, perhaps some people never would have taken an interest in reading for pleasure at all.
Finally, I have to wonder what Quincy meant when he said that when he stated that "the usefullness of a free library may increase in inverse ratio to the circulation of its books." Again, while he may have had opinions about quality of literature, I'm not sure I agree that it should be his and other "educated" men's responsibility to decide which books are useful and which are not.

Thanks!

2008-01-29T13:51:00.001-06:00

This is just a general exclamation of joy: I decided to sit in on this class partly because several of the readings I did for the Information and Labor class I took from Dr. Downey ~~two~~ three (argh!) years ago have become part of my mental furniture, coloring the way I think about my profession and its institutions.

I am just loving all the reading I've done so far for this course (and I will nerdily admit to being a week or so ahead in the reader), and I'm rearranging my mind to make room for more furniture!

Seriously, the Harris article and the reactions to it are pure unadulterated awesome. I hope we get a chance to talk through how some of the attitudes attributed to various parties (from donors to patrons to government to librarians themselves) persist in modern librarianship, because I was seeing an awful lot that feels familiar...

My apologies to everyone for the contentless post -- I'm just happy and wanted to share.

Questions for reading-Week 2

2008-01-28T12:51:00.000-06:00

Here are the questions and comments group 2 came up with for the readings for class on Tuesday, Jan. 29.

Enjoy!

Theresa and Emily

J. P. Quincy, Free Libraries

Quincy’s article entitled Free Libraries appeared in Public Libraries in the United States of America: their History, Condition, and Management which Dee Garrison writes “was a summation of the knowledge and experience gained in libraries during the period since 1853” (Garrison, 4). The report was commissioned by the U.S. Bureau of Education and “mainly addressed itself to the librarians moral responsibilities,” (Garrison, 4) along with providing practical advice. Quincy discusses issues such as the use of public funds to finance libraries and to provide books that are morally questionable. He also asserts that libraries will benefit public education and that they provide access to people of all economic backgrounds education. Quincy argues that the libraries main goal should be to create a more literate and moral society. Garrison writes that the report became “an indispensable library manual for several years to come” (Garrison, 4). How did these ideas transform the early years of the public library and translate into what we now expect of the public library? Do these issues have any relevance to today’s libraries and if so how?

Quincy believed “We cannot evade a responsibility which has been placed upon us of the passing generation. One of the most promising institutions yet born into the world must be bequeathed to our successors as an instrument always working in the direction of moral and social developments” (Quincy, 399). What are the perceived responsibilities of today’s library? How do librarians fulfill the duties associated with the library’s responsibilities? Quincy concludes “Unlike all other public charities, the free library is equally generous to those who have and to those who lack. It cares as tenderly for the many as for the few, and removes some of those painful contrasts in human opportunity which all good men are anxious to rectify” (Quincy, 402). Was this statement true during Quincy’s time and is it true today?

Jesse Shera, Causal factors in public library development

In this article, Shera discusses what he considers the main forces that contributed to the early development of the public library. These forces include economic ability; scholarship, historical research and the urge for conservation; local pride; universal public education; self-education; vocational influence; and various others. Shera implies that the economic ability of a community was the primary factor in the development of a public library. However, he is reluctant to say that this is the most important factor. Besides economic ability, Shera does not state which factors had greater influence. Shera concludes by saying the underlying factors were “the people themselves-countless individuals in innumerable towns who had faith in the public library and believed implicitly in social value” (Shera 243-244).

As we read this article, we wondered how these factors apply to modern day libraries. When a village/city/town forms a new public library, what are the factors? Is it simply based on community desire? Does economic ability still play a primary role in whether or not a community decides to create a new library?

How “public” were these public libraries? In the development of libraries, did Shera consider the communities or groups that were blatantly ignored?

After reading the articles by Shera and Williams, do you think Williams’ critique of Shera is valid? Why or why not?

Between Quincy’s article and Shera’s, how has the view of the public library changed?

Shera writes “The belief was widely held that reading was a ‘good’ thing in itself and that the act of reading tended to elevate the reader, and this faith in the printed word as an instrument for the building of character is often expressed by the proprietors of corporation libraries” (238). Based on Quincy’s article, would he agree with this assessment of the power of reading?

Robert V. Williams, The Public Library as the Dependent Variable: Historically Oriented Theories and Hypotheses of Pubic Library Development

Williams writes that library historians need combine an idiographic approach which he defines as “statements [that] can be made only about specific time and place” with a nomothetic approach which he defines as “attempts to make universal generalizations about phenomena” (Williams, 329-330). Williams goes on to discuss different theories of how historians have approached library history. He reviews the main theories regarding the development of the public library including: the social conditions theory, democratic tradition theory, and social control theory. In reviewing these theories, he provides benefits and critiques of each. He writes, “the central weaknesses are the lack of specification about the relationships between the variables and the failure to include casually oriented statement that explains the why of public library development” (Williams, 339). He ultimately argues that in the end both approaches, the idiographic and nomothetic, are needed.

Williams gives us the main theories and shows us how they fail and provides us an alternative, but where do we start? Especially given the fact that “our community of scholars is small and the issues so diverse” (Williams, 330). Do you believe that one of these theories provides us with a better starting point? Williams writes “The three candidate theoretical explanations of public library development considered thus far have all treated the library as a dependent variable, subject to factors within the social system but having no direct effect on the social system or, indirectly, on itself” (Williams, 338). How does this tie in with Quincy’s view of libraries as a moral center in the community? If the initial expectation of libraries was to have a specific effect on the community, what are the implications of overlooking this effect in historical research? How would one study the impact of the library on its community?

Intro

2008-01-27T23:19:00.000-06:00

Hi LIS 569,

I'm Emily and I am a first year SLIS student. I am interested in working in an academic library, possibly in reference services. Right now I work at the SLIS library, so you might see me behind the desk. See you all in class!

Introduction

2008-01-27T21:36:00.000-06:00

Hey-I'm Theresa, a first-year SLIS student. I entered the program with the intention of going into public library work, but have since changed my mind. I'm not sure exactly what area I want to go into, but I'm open for anything. I tried uploading a picture, but my internet connection is quite shady, so I was unable. I'll try again later. Looking forward to an interesting class! Okay, I tried and here is the picture.

Introduction

2008-01-24T14:28:00.000-06:00

Hola. I'm Tammy.
I am a second year SLIS student. My focus is on Youth Services and Outreach to recent immigrants. I am most passionate about second language acquisition, that is - how children get ready to read when they are learning two languages at once and therefore I am always working to master Best Practices for Bilingual Storytimes...

I'm from Minnesota and
a single mother of a beautiful 4 year old girl named Isabel.

Intro:

2008-01-23T20:24:00.001-06:00

Hi - I'm Peter\Petey - known in the blog as Belle Et Sebastian after one of my favorite bands, Belle and Sebastian. I've lived in Madison most of my life, save for university in Minneapolis, and a short stint in Boston. I'm most fascinated by the interaction of technology with traditional library resources. In particular I am interested in the controversy around the inclusion of devices such as IPods , MP3 downloads and game systems within library holdings.
When I was younger I enjoyed playing table soccer. Hence, I have decided to include a picture of myself playing table soccer this past summer.

Intro!

2008-01-22T21:01:00.000-06:00

Hello LIS 569!!
My name is Joslyn Rosen. I am currently a senior here at UW-Madison majoring in Psychology. I am looking very forward to this class!

Intro: Angela

2008-01-22T20:00:00.001-06:00

Hello, LIS 569! My name is Angela. I am an undergraduate history major here at the University and I plan on applying to the SLIS program in the Fall. I grew up in Northfield, Minnesota to a working-class family and I will soon join my sister as one of the first college graduates in the family. I began working at the Law Library about a year ago and I enjoy it a great deal. I am excited for the spring semester and learning about librarianship. I plan on traveling to Washington, D.C. in the spring, and the Library of Congress will be the first on the list! I hope it lives up to the praise from the vintage video in class.

Intro: Kristina Glodoski

2008-01-22T13:23:00.001-06:00

Hello LIS 569 bloggers!
I am enrolled currently as a special student (within SLIS), but plan to enter the SLIS grad program in Fall 2009. I have worked for the Memorial Library since 2001, and have been working as a full-time LSA since I graduated from the UW in 2003 (BA: history and communication arts). I have lived in Madison for all my 27 years, and I am very much looking forward to this class!

Intro: Dorothea Salo

2008-01-22T12:50:00.000-06:00

By Greg's leave, I will be sitting in on 569 this semester. I'm the Digital Repository Librarian for the University of Wisconsin System, which means that I run this service. I am also a SLIS graduate, class of 2005.

No pictures, sorry; I hate having pictures of myself on the internet. Also, I apologize in advance for being late to class today; I have to run a meeting at 2.

Looking forward to the course!

Post an introduction! (With a picture.)

2008-01-22T12:40:00.001-06:00

Hi folks. By now you've all received an invitation from me to join this weblog as an author. My first challenge to you is to make a short posting on this front page where you introduce yourself. And for the brave: See if you can figure out how to include a picture of yourself as well!

Spring 2008 syllabus coming soon

2008-01-07T11:53:00.001-06:00

Hi folks, welcome to our class weblog. I almost have the articles and assignments set for Spring 2008. Everything should be ready by the first day of classes -- watch this space.

Thanks for a great semester

2006-05-04T12:00:00.000-05:00

Folks, our last discussion was way too short and I'm sure I could have moderated/guided it better, but overall I hope you found our class as useful as I did in trying to bring some sort of organization to a century or more of library and information studies history. In the short term, write me a good paper. In the long term, keep arguing about, defending, defining, and redefining your profession -- you are the historical actors today. I'll be around over the summer for anyone staying in Madison -- please keep in touch, especially if you happen to see me down at the terrace on a sunny afternoon. Cheers,

GREG

Conservation

2006-05-04T00:27:00.000-05:00

If anyone is interested, there is an article in the May 2006 issue of National Geographic concerning some ancient texts about Judas that are currently being restored by the NGS. I thought there were some interesting quotes that relate to Nicholson Baker's Double Fold. On page 93, the journalist reveals that "the manuscript was so brittle that it would crumble at the slightest touch". This is a quote that undoubtedly would drive Baker crazy, but in this case it is factually true, though it does partake in preservation cliche. The manuscript also is said to consist of "a thousand fragments" much like the 'snow' term he so virulently argues against. It is an interesting blend, nonetheless, of conservation efforts and preservation rhetoric.

Live Homework Help

2006-05-03T20:47:00.000-05:00

After doing some research on the Live Homework Help we saw the ad for last week, I turned up some facts. It is a subscription service from a commerial provider located at Tutor.com . Libraries from across the country seem to subscribe to it, though it is not actually affliated with any sort of library. It appears that their various tutors generally work from their individual home computers. Individuals can also subscribe to it on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

Cox responds to Baker

2006-05-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

Folks looking for the "archivist's response" to Nicholson Baker's arguments may want to check out this essay by Richard Cox in First Monday. Cox attempts to refute Baker's arguments against newspaper microfilming and subsequent destruction one by one:

Novelist and literary essayist Nicholson Baker once again has caused a stir in the library world, this time attacking the sale and/or destruction of original newspapers once they have been microfilmed. Ably and eloquently arguing his case, Baker is still wrong while succeeding in raising public awareness about the care of basic documentary sources and in forcing librarians and archivists alike to re-think basic assumptions and practices. My essay responds to what I discern as Baker's four main points - a lie foisted upon the public about the care of the newspapers, the insidious destruction of original newspapers, the resultant loss of trust by the public in libraries and archives, and a set of wrong priorities leading to the misguided microfilming and destruction of the newspapers. My essay also suggests that we should expect more such public debates as the developing Digital Age brings more intense concerns for original books, archives, and other documents.

As the final reading of the semester in our class -- and a reading which recounts the library history of the twentieth century from the perspective of one who is neither librarian nor historian -- I hope we can respectfully consider and/or challenge Baker's points as Cox does. But I will be curious to see what you think, in the end, of the contradictory meanings of "preservation" and "conservation" that Baker reveals.

Once again, though I know you're sick of it: What is (has been, should be) the social function, social purpose, social value of the library?

DEZ

2006-05-03T00:21:00.000-05:00

A link to LC's Mass Deacidification: An Initiative to Refine the Diethyl Zinc Process and their current, and hopefully safer, initiative.

Baker v. Librarian

2006-05-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

Nicholas Baker tells an exciting story about the failures of microfilm and American libraries in general. He uses his years of experience as a fiction writer to craft a doomsday tale so believable that you must keep yourself from running to the microforms office of your local library to protest the destruction of our collective historical record between chapters. Baker sprinkles his tale with histories of paper made from mummy wrapping, exploding vacuum chambers, and connections to CIA torture experiments.

My question to the class is, what of Baker’s story do we believe and why have we done so? Here is a man who has no formal library training, traipsing through some of our country’s greatest information depositories telling us, librarians, how to do our jobs. Moreover, he spends thirty-eight chapters telling the public that we have lied to them about the state of our collections and that our books are not in fact falling apart on our shelves as we have stated for years in our requests for funding. What has driven him to tear apart decades of procedures perfected by library professionals and are his concerns about these practices valid?

Digitization vs. Microfilm

2006-05-03T00:06:00.000-05:00

Late in Double Fold Baker addresses the issue of digitization of library materials as a replacement for microfilming. He does not give this subject as lengthy or detailed a treatment as he does microfilming, perhaps because digital reformatting was not yet as important as it has since become. Double Fold was published in 2001, the same year that the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections (UWDC) were established.

Given Baker's opinions on microfilm, how do you think he would feel about digital reformatting today? How do YOU feel about digital reformatting today? Does it have any particular strengths or weaknesses when compared to microfilm, or to print-and-paper books?

If you don't have much experience with digital collections, visit the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections and see what the UWDCC has put online.

Full disclosure: I've worked for the UWDCC for about a year and a half. I'll be talking a bit more about this on Thursday.

Double Fold from an Archivists’ Perspective

2006-05-02T21:20:00.000-05:00

In reaction to Double Fold, Richard Cox, a well known archivist within the archival community wrote Vandals in the Stacks?. Cox breaks down Baker’s argument point by point from an archivists’ perspective. The following comments are from Cox’s chapter “Why Can’t the Paper Keepers Keep all the Paper?”. This chapter addresses Baker’s claim that all newspapers should be saved in their original format. Cox discusses that this is impossible to do for a number of reasons.
1. It is impossible to save every newspaper since big city newspapers publish multiple editions daily and libraries often only receive one edition.
2. Archivists do not have the resources to save every newspaper despite what Baker says.
3. Newspapers were never meant to last forever. The quality of paper that newspapers are published on will deteriorate. According to Cox, Baker’s comments about newspapers not deteriorating have little true basis.
Bottom line is that archivists, like librarians, need to make choices about selection. Given the choice, an archivist is going to choose saving correspondence of an important literary figure over a newspaper. So the alternative is microfilming newspapers.

Some Questions to think about:
What do you think about Baker’s idea of saving everything? Do you agree with Richard Cox’s view or more with Baker’s?
Is microfilming of newspaper all evil as Baker suggests?

Literacy 24/7: Where are the libraries?

2006-05-02T07:08:00.000-05:00

A blurb in the Isthmus Daily Page connects with our ongoing discussion of the current and historical relationship between libraries, schools, and bookstores. Last weekend was the "Literacy 24/7" event was held at a local bookstore by the Madison Area Literacy Council:

[T]he 1440-minute long event featured marathon reading sessions at the west side Borders. Organized by the council as a fundraiser for its literacy programs, each hour was kicked off by ten minutes of out-loud literacy from a variety of guest readers, including Tammy Baldwin, Pleasant Rowland, and Dave Cieslewicz, not to mention a host of authors.

A quick visit to the MALC web site reveals only a cursory connection to local libraries for this non-profit group. Some of their upcoming events are being held at the Sun Prairie public library, but the MPL system seems totally absent. Surprising?

Books about America ... for Iraq

2006-05-01T07:08:00.000-05:00

This article in Slate today talks about an international book translation and distribution effort proposed by a University of Michigan professor who, I can assure you, is no simple mouthpiece for the current presidential administration:

Juan Cole, a blogger and professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Michigan, has come up with an intriguing idea for how to fill this gap. He wants to hire skilled linguists to translate into Arabic the classic works of American political thought -- especially those works that deal with freedom of religion, division of powers, sovereignty of the people, and equal rights. He has in mind the essays and speeches of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Tom Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr., and Susan B. Anthony; a solid history of American Jews and other minority groups; maybe a few good books, written by American historians, about Iraq. Cole also wants to subsidize Middle Eastern publishers to print these books in large numbers and at low prices, and he wants to pay fees to book dealers throughout the region -- just as publishers pay Borders and Barnes & Noble here -- to display the books prominently.

This isn't just an idea. Cole has established the Global Americana Institute and the Library of Americana Translation Project. Since he outlined the idea in his blog late last year, readers have sent him $13,000. He claims that some foundations are 'jumping-up-and-down enthusiastic' to pour in the big bucks, once he obtained the legal status of a nonprofit organization. The federal government just gave him this status two weeks ago. He's filling out the grant applications now. He also recently returned from the Beirut international book fair, where he says several Middle Eastern publishers and dealers expressed great interest in the project (and, no doubt, in the prospect of the money).

Long ago, the federal government did on its own just what Cole proposes to do. The United States Information Agency -- then an independent agency -- maintained libraries in Amman, Istanbul, and elsewhere, filled with translations of American political and literary classics. The Franklin Book Program, a nonprofit company with funding from the State Department and private foundations, published hundreds of titles and stocked them in libraries and bookstores all over the world. The Franklin Book Program shut down in 1977, its international board having determined -- prematurely, it turned out -- that its mission was accomplished. In the 1990s, under pressure from the Republican-run Senate (especially Jesse Helms, then chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee), the USIA was absorbed into the State Department; its budget was whacked and its agenda politicized; its libraries were shut down, their books remaindered.

Thoughts?

New Verona library described in the press

2006-05-01T07:02:00.000-05:00

Is it just me, or does this seem like a strange way for the Wisconsin State Journal to describe the new Verona library?

Other libraries might have more books, faster computers, more meeting space or a quieter reading room.But topping the view provided by a more than two-story bank of windows at the new Verona Public Library will be tough for any library to match.Visitors taking a break from reading or surfing the net through the library's wireless network may look out through the v-shaped bank of windows and see a hawk, wild flowers or changing cloud patterns above.

Garrison Keillor quote and Baker's "Double Fold"

2006-04-27T19:32:00.000-05:00

I'm not in the review group for "Double Fold," but am a big fan of the book. I found the following passage on the back of the Viking/BOMC trade paperback edition of Garrison Keillor's "We Are Still Married" today, and thought it was a perfect companion to Baker's book. With all the library and book quotations posted around SLIS, I had never come across this one. Oh, by the way, it is a lengthy quote, and it may push the limits of copyright law to reproduce it, but as I am putting it on our class blog, I presume it would be covered under Fair Use. If not, Viking can let us know and I'll take it down.

"A silken photo of the author leaning on a porch should occupy this space along with few roundhouse tributes from newspapers but why not instead a few lines about the great and ancient invention you hold in your hand, the Book itself. Slow to hatch, as durable as a turtle, light and shapely as befits a descendant of the tree. Closed, the objet d'book resembles a board. Open, its pale wings brush the fingertips, the spore of fresh ink and pulp excites the nose, the spine lies easily in the hand. A handsome useful object begotten by the passion for truth. The apostle Paul was not the host of a talk show, or else we'd be worshiping famous people on Sunday mornings: he wrote books, a Christian thing to do. The faith of Jews and Christians rests on God's sacred word, not on magic or music, and so technology burst forward into publishing, Gutenberg and Johann Fust and Peter Schoffer making books similar to ours in the fifteenth century. Ages before the loudspeaker and the camera, came this lovely thing, this portable garden, which survives television, computers, censorship, lousy schools, and rotten authors. Along with the Constitution, the blues, and baseball, the democracy of letters is a common glory in our midst, visible in every library and bookstore. These stacks of boards contain our common life and keep it against the miserable days when meanness operates with a free hand and save it for the day when the lonesome reader opens the cover and the word is resurrected. The day can come next month or a hundred years from now, a book will wait."
-- Garrison Keillor

American Public Libraries: A Long Transformative Moment

2006-04-26T21:44:00.000-05:00

In this article, the author counters the argument that libraries and librarianship is going the way of the 8-track by pointing out what the library is and does: the library is a physical space used by a community for more than just books, that libraries have often been ahead of some technologies, and that libraries provide equal access to technology. In her opinion, technology is not the demise of libraries as so many contend but as a "tool" that libraries use to their advantage.
She maintains that there will always be a need for libraries and librarians but that librarians' and libraries' roles are changing. To keep up with the change, she suggests the following:

-Libraries need strong leadership and need to "assume a key leadership role as the major player in a society that is now based on information and knowledge."
-Libraries need to be more connected, especially with online databases and to other libraries, and through such connectedness, libraries must enrich the content of the technologies available (for example, online databases should have full-text availability).
-Library buildings should be equipped and upgraded to handle new technology and that includes everything from wiring to new computers.
-Staff members need to learn, understand, and stay abreast of new technology, both the hardware and the software as well as online databases and websites.
-Libraries and governing boards must figure out how to reconcile local governance and funding with global technological access, such as the internet.
-Libraries and staff must maintain the goal and mission of equal access for everything the library offers, including technology, to every library user.

Some questions to ponder after reading this article. Are we now seeing the transformation that the author purports must take place for libraries to remain viable? Do you agree with the author as to her argument and solutions?
Consider this from the sides of the library user, a community member and the library staff member: do you see libraries taking active leadership roles in your community or beyond? If yes, how? If no, how could/should libraries be taking such roles? Do you agree that libraries even need to take more active leadership in communities?

Library roles

2006-04-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

According to the national survey of public library's roles, from 1993, providing educational support was, for all age ranges, consistently rated higher then the more community-space oriented choices. How does this compare to the priorities of public libraries where you work/have worked? Should this change the way public libraries promote themselves within the community?

Why does it matter that non-Caucasian groups rated the roles of the library higher in addition to indicating a higher per capita expenditure? Do you think this is reflected in who uses the public library, in your observations?

WLA presents some statistics from 2003 showing that "the annual statewide average per capita local and county tax support for public library service in 2003 was $30.59." If you want to read more about the tax support or other library statistics from 2003 the website is: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/legis/relevance.htm

On Customer Driven Librarianship

2006-04-25T14:01:00.000-05:00

John E. Buschman in his book, Dismantling the public sphere: Situating and sustaining librarianship in the age of the new public philosophy, attempts to prove that society is now functioning under a “New Public Philosophy” which is primarily based in economics. The “New Public Sphere” is destroying “the public sphere” and as discussed in the chapter we read, “On Customer-Driven Librarianship,” is causing libraries to abandon its public sphere responsibilities. The new emphasis on a for-profit corporate environment has led to the idea of customer-driven librarianship, where libraries attempt to compete with similar corporations.

Buschman makes an outrageous comparison in the chapter, “On Customer-Driven Librarianship,” between student-driven universities and patron- driven libraries. He claims that universities who cater to students with free booze, GPAs on demand, and few academic requirements would please students but would fall out of favor in society. He uses this example to suggest that that patron-driven librarianship would lead to decreasing public and private support for libraries and would cause libraries to “abandon a number of public sphere roles,” like promoting democracy.

Do we as future librarians agree with this? And, if the library is supported by public tax money what is the harm in placing the library in the hand of the public? Are we as librarians so afraid of that outcome that we are unwilling to relinquish our control and allow customer-driven librarianship to take over?

Shopping for Community: Miller Article

2006-04-22T13:27:00.000-05:00

In this article, Miller considers “the use and meaning of the community ideal by examining how it has been manifested in both the rhetoric of the book trade, and the activities and promotional efforts of booksellers” (p. 387). She begins by giving an overview of what is meant by community—the different definitions that have emerged and debate that surrounds the “community ideal.” She argues that even with its myriad definitions and a variety of criteria as to what “true” community entails, it remains an ideal that is very much a part of the American psyche. According to Miller, within social science circles a debate exists as to the social benefits that can come out of achieving the community ideal. On one side there are the “communitarians” who argue that “building a sense of community is necessary for restoring moral purpose to the collective life in the United States” (p. 389). As a society Americans have become extremely individualistic, and therefore we need to move back to this sense of community and working for the common good. Critics of this theory claim that the community ideal is not easily achieved because it often demands a certain level of conformity, and if someone does not fit the values or beliefs of the community, they are excluded.

After setting up this framework, Miller provides a brief history of bookselling in the U.S.—from early bookstores that existed as a sort of community center, to small intellectually elite bookstores, to the emergence of mall bookstores, the resurgence or backlash of the independent bookstores and finally the replacement of mall stores with stand-alone superstores. Following this history she examines ways that bookstores are linked to communities. This includes things such as author/book talks, storytime for children, and singles events. In addition, the inclusion of cafés in many bookstores and comfy chairs make them ideal places to hang out and meet up with other people. In looking at these connections, Miller explores how successfully independent versus superstores achieve the community ideal. In the final part of the article, she looks at the limitations of viewing bookstores as a means of developing a sense of community, particularly given that in the end bookstores are a business and their ultimate goal is making a profit.

Some questions to think about:
Do you agree or disagree with the argument that chain bookstores cannot truly play a role in reaching the “community ideal”? Why or why not? Can independent bookstores play a role? What connections do you see between some of the challenges independent bookstores face in light of the growth of superstores and the challenges libraries face? Do they face similar challenges or are there differences? Even though you do not have to buy anything when going into a bookstore, ultimately they appeal most to those that can buy books or other products in the stores. How does this compare to libraries? Do different sectors of the community use libraries versus bookstores or do the same people use both? Are libraries a more equitable public space than bookstores?

As a side note, one thing I found interesting when reading this article is the fact that the author is from Canada and she does not make any mention of Canada—her focus is on the United States. I was living in Canada from 2000-2002 and during that time the two largest bookstores in Canada, “Chapters” and “Indigo Books and Music” were going through a merger—“Chapters” was in financial trouble and “Indigo” was going to rescue it from completely going out of business. These bookstores are superstores like “Borders” and “Barnes and Noble”. There was a great deal of press at the time of the merger. Some people saw it as a bad thing because it would lead to further homogenization of bookstores in Canada. Others thought it might lead to better competition and actually benefit independent booksellers. Overall many in the Canadian publishing industry and many independent booksellers supported the merger because they feared that if Indigo didn’t buy out Chapters then an American company, like Borders or Barnes and Noble would. This, they feared, would hurt the Canadian publishing industry because these American companies would be less likely to carry Canadian titles. An interesting twist to the community-bookstore link.

Vannevar Bush article

2006-04-19T22:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry this is so late! Anyway, I found Vannevar Bush's article quite intriguing, particularily his idea of the "memex". Given today's technological advancements, his proposal seems decidedly absurd. According to Wikipedia "the memex was severely flawed because Bush did not understand information science, or microfilm very well". I was hoping to get some feedback on this issue: what about the memex struck you as probably not very well adapted to the way that people use information? What structural errors did this particular, though hypothetical advancement have, in your opinion, given the ways you use technology? Also, it has been written that Vannevar didn't link up with the library.. where we might think his invention might have a home. How often do you think this happens, how many inventions that may have helped the library just pass on by because of perceptions about the library as an institution.. what might these perceptions be? Lack of funding, lack of use for technology?

The Techonological Revolution

2006-04-19T20:29:00.000-05:00

In this article Hamlin works with the idea the last century has been one in which there has been a fourth revolution-namely a technological revolution in the field of instruction. He sepertes the devolopments into three catagories, photographic processes, conservation and protection, and automation and the computer. It was interesting to note the very different opinions on the usefullness of the computers, espicially when comparted to the more widespread support of microform and its successors. I was wondering what people felt about the predicitons of Bush, who was pro-automation and Mason, who was anti-automation, and how they have come to true today if it all? Additionally as a precussor to Double Fold was the wide scale adoption of microform, film, and fiche as beneficial as argued? Finally as the article was written in 1981 I think that we have now experienced another technological revolution in the form of the internet.

Public Libraries Vs. the Internet: Do We Have a Chance?

2006-04-19T09:23:00.000-05:00

“The Impact of the Internet on Public Library Use” article outlined the results of a study done by George D’Elia, Corrine Jorgensen, Joseph Woelfel and Eleanor Jo Rodger. The study wanted to investigate the relationship between the Internet and the library in terms of information seeking individuals. They saw that many services which the library offered were also offered by the Internet, and they wanted to see which ones consumers chose, why and how well this decision fit their information needs. This was done by surveying 3,097 English and Spanish-speaking adults (above the age of 18) through a Random Digit Dialing telephone survey on their use of the library and the internet, their information needs and the service they expected (and to what extent received) from both the library and the internet.

After analyzing the data, the group came to the conclusion that at this point the use of the library and the use of the internet are seen by a majority of the public as “complementary.” However, the study also concluded that “…the Internet was overwhelmingly preferred over the library for the majority of uses, many of which fall under the library’s traditional mission of information provision.” When discussing services provided by the library and the Internet, “…the users of both the Internet and the library rated the Internet superior to the library for 10 out of 16 service characteristics.” D’Elia, Jorgensen, Woelfel and Rodger basically recommend that the library begin actively reevaluating their mission statement and role in society, something they don't see happening at this point in time.

In reading the results of this study, were you worried about the future of libraries? Or do you feel it’s impossible to make the issue so black and white? Will library patrons who use the internet really chose between the two and never look back?

To look at this issue historically, is the idea of libraries competing with another service, business or institution only a new phenomenon? Or were there other periods in library history where this occurred?

interesting intellectual freedom case

2006-04-18T11:38:00.000-05:00

I saw this article via the Bookslut blog. In a nutshell, it describes the efforts of the FBI to go through the archived papers of Jack Anderson, a former Washington muckraking reporter and Pulitzer-prize winner who died last year. Citing interest in documents related to the prosecution of two former officials with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee under investigation for distributing information on national defense, the FBI wants to "remove any item they deem confidential or top secret" from the archive. George Washington University, which currently has the papers, is letting the Anderson family fight the FBI. It brings up an interesting twist to how the Patriot Act and other intellectual freedom issues are applied to personal papers and archives.

Whither Libraries? by Lancaster

2006-04-17T11:08:00.000-05:00

F. Wilfrid Lancaster's "Whither Libraries? or, Wither Libraries" article tackles the issue of library technology at a point (1978) that he recognized as being a turning point in the debate between print based and non-print (electronic in this case) materials. Early in the article, he announces, "Whether we like it or not, society is evolving from one whose formal communication has, for centuries, been based almost exclusively on print on paper to one whose formal communication will be largely paperless (ie electronic)" (346). Focusing specifically on scholarly publishing in the sciences, Lancaster envisions a future that will have scientists submitting, reviewing and reading papers in an entirely electronic environment, and libraries offering access to the same material via electronic databases. Lancaster cites space concerns, production and handling costs and the time lag inherent in print publishing as motivations for a switch to electronic material, "by the year 2000, [or conceivably earlier]" (355). 2000 has come and gone: are Lancaster's predictions accurate? What, if anything, does Lancaster NOT take into account for the successful transfer to electronic publishing that could be an issue today? Lancaster closes his article by calling for more study on what libraries can do in the new electronic publishing world: what are some ways you have seen librarians adapt to the use of electronic sources?

Another librarian censorship/selection dispute

2006-04-15T08:36:00.000-05:00

From Inside Higher Ed comes this tale from Ohio State University ...

Like a growing number of colleges, Ohio State University at Mansfield has decided to ask all freshmen to read a common book, in the hope of creating a more unified intellectual experience for new students. But the effort over the last month to pick a book for the next group of new students hasn’t exactly been a unifying experience. The
suggestion of one member of the book selection committee that an anti-gay book be picked angered many faculty members, some of whom have filed harassment charges against the person who nominated that book. The faculty members in turn are being accused of trying to censor a librarian — and a conservative group is threatening to sue.

Whether the debate at Mansfield is about faculty members standing up for tolerance or displaying intolerance all depends on whom you ask.

You can read the full article for the gory details, but here's the main point: a book recommended by head reference librarian Scott Savage:

As an example of a non-ideological book, Savage suggested Freakonomics. But his comments to the group against picking an ideological book struck some the wrong way. Then one committee member sent an e-mail saying that a controversial book would get more students engaged and debating. The university, he wrote, “can afford to polarize, and in fact has an obligation to, on certain issues.”

With that invitation, Savage offered his own suggestions on books that might fit the bill, including new books by Sen. Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican who is much loved by social conservatives, and by David Horowitz, the conservative gadfly who has pushed the Academic Bill of Rights, which is derided by faculty groups as taking away their rights. But the suggestion that created the furor was another one: The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom, by David Kupelian.

While the book has many targets, gay people rank high as a source of problems, with frequent implications of a gay conspiracy hurting society. Publicity material for the book blasts the gay civil-rights movement for changing “America’s former view of homosexuals as self-destructive human beings into their current status as victims and cultural heroes” and says that this transformation campaign “faithfully followed an in-depth, phased plan laid out by professional Harvard-trained marketers.”

Almost immediately, fellow panel members (and soon others at the university) not only objected to the book (which never seems to have been in serious contention for freshmen to read), but to the idea that it would be offered for consideration.

In the end, the committee selected the book The Working Poor, by David K. Shipler -- but that's not the issue. The issue involves calls to dismiss this academic librarian and charges of discrimination against GLBT students, staff and faculty, as well as the librarian's threatened lawsuit claiming discrimination against Christians. I'd be interested in what LIS569 students think of this article in light of the historical debates we've been considering.

Space for Louise to update us about Ruth Brown?

2006-04-13T14:50:00.000-05:00

I asked Louise after class today if she'd share some further tidbits on the Ruth Brown story (and the book), especially anything new that's come to light since the book was published. If she has time, she will comment -- so here's a space for her to do so ...

Communism and black intellectuals

2006-04-13T12:07:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,
As I mentioned in class today, I believe that we need to pay attention to the fact that Ruth Brown and her "very beautiful white [daughter] (51)" were patients of Dr. Dixon, an African-American man, and that this fact may have been the doubly-buried social outrage that led to Brown's dismissal. One of the main objectives of the KKK is and was to "protect southern white womanhood" from black men. Louise mentions the history of the Klan in Oklahoma, but I'd like to know its status at the time of Brown's dismissal. I'm not suggesting that the Klan was necessarily directly involved, but some local people may have shared its hysteria over the idea of physical contact between black men and white women.
A few quick Wiki searches after class, though, also makes me want me to further investigate the authors and activists in the civil rights movement that inspired Ruth Brown. Turns out, both Richard Wright (author of "Black Boy," which meant so much to Ruth Brown) and Bayard Rustin (the openly gay civil rights organizer whose speaking engagement was cancelled) had been members of the Communist Party. Not secret members either- no crypto-Communism or "fellow-traveler-ism" here. For instance, Wright writes about it in "Black Boy," and was editor for a time of a Communist newspaper. Both Wright and Rustin became disillusioned with the Soviet model, as did many intellectuals. It seems to me that these are crucial facts of the case, not much discussed in the book. Does this make Ruth Brown a Communist? Not at all. But the notion that she might have been is not so far-fetched. As I said, it's worth further investigation.

Libraries and Library Board

2006-04-12T17:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, let's try this again. Blogger went a little nuts last time I tried to get this posted.

Like many libraries that started during the late 1800's, the Bartlesville Public Library was started by a local women's group. It was one of the libraries started to bring refinement and culture to the workers of the factory town. Do you think its roots, and those of the community, helped to influence the later issues that arose with the Brown controversy? Do you think these roots or the company town nature were what caused such striking differences between the library in Bartlesville and the one in the neighboring town? And how do you think Ruth Brown managed to get circulation figures like she did?

It seems that the (first) library board worked hard to cooperate with what the "community" wanted, while still attempting to maintain what they felt the library stood for. I myself was impressed that they had encouraged mixed storyhours. In the end things of course did not go so well. What examples of this type of situation have you seen or heard of in the modern day? What ideals do you see libraries and library boards holding up despite what the "community" thinks? Some examples besides patron privacy would be good.

Also, I was just thinking as I typed this, I was thinking about how I cannot comprehend what it would be like to work in a segregated library. Or to live in a time where segregation happened as the norm. What are other people's thoughts on this? Have any of you seen major changes in your lifetimes?

Politics and Censorship

2006-04-12T12:24:00.000-05:00

I know that most of you have read this book before, but before I move on to the discussion of McCarthyism and censorship I just wanted to say that I was sort of surprised that there was really no redemption for Ruth Brown in Bartlesville. There is an effort today to build a memorial for Miss Brown, but it seems like prior to this there was no real attempt to honor her struggle. http://www.bartlesville.org/womensnetwor/ruthbrownletter.html

During this period there was a great deal of imposed censorship and also self censorship. In Ruth Brown's case it was the reason for her dismissal, and was also seen as others declined to speak up on her behalf. The "Red Scare" gave people the opportunity to exert a certain amount of social control. One of the arguments for the removal of "subversive" materials from the library was the impact they could have on children. This topic also seems to be a large part of the film (I am just basing this on the description in the book) where the young character, Freddie, becomes fixated on communism. This was discussed a little on the blog last week in regards to parental censorship of children. Do you think there are different levels of censorship in libraries for different groups of people? Should the community be able to dictate what materials are allowed in the library, or is it the library that influences the community?

Bartlesville as a Company Town

2006-04-12T11:17:00.000-05:00

In general, a company town is one in which a significant portion of the economy depends on one corporation. Usually that corporation also owns other businesses that provide goods and services to the residents and may also sponsor cultural and entertainment activities. (Wikipedia names Kohler, Wisconsin as a company town.) Did Bartlesville at the time discussed in the book fit this definition?. The city depended mainly on the Phillips Petroleum Company for its economic health. Phillips also exerted a lot of control in other ways, not only on its employees, but also on the residents of Bartlesville. What are some examples? Many residents became angered when Ruth Brown began participating in desegregation activities. Some employees of Phillips also participated with Brown. So how did Phillips respond to those employees? What was the true motivation behind the actions of Phillips?

Gender Issues in "Ruth Brown"

2006-04-11T16:56:00.000-05:00

Throughout the story of Ruth Brown, we see numerous females actively participating in community groups, the Library Board, and the self-designated citizen's committee whose purpose was to investigate allegations of "pro-communism" in the library. Most of these women were the wives of employees of the town's largest business, Phillips Petroleum, or their competition, Cities Service. While these women undoubtedly held influential positions on town committees, men always held the leadership positions and seem to have made the final decisions. Conservative groups such as the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), and Pro-America had members who were also part of decision-making in Bartlesville.

Ruth Brown was a member of the COPD (Committee on the Practice of Democracy), and, though other prominent women also were members, they seem to disappear when Brown is confronted with charges of pro-communism and attempting to integrate the library.

So, some questions to think about...Does what happened to Ruth Brown serve to perpetuate the stereotypical librarian (as opposed to her personally)? Thinking about the national state of library affairs at this time (loyalty oaths, etc.), does location have any bearing on her situation (i.e. what if she were a librarian in California)? Did female members of the various community groups (including the COPD, to which Brown belonged) do what they could to help her? Should they have done more? Was more female involvement in the decision to dismiss Brown even a possibility in a town run by a big oil business? What bearing does this case have on female librarians (and males, for that matter) today? Have gender roles changed enough in librarianship and in the composition of library boards?

Attention Group 5 and Group 6!

2006-04-08T15:47:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, I had a quick question. Something came up, and I am going be out of town on the 27th, when my group, group 6, is set to present. I was wondering, group 5er's, if I might join up with your group and present the week before? If you were in group 5, and wanted to join group 6 and present a week later, (we could just switch then) that would be great, so I'm not leaving my group down a person for their presentation. Anyway if you could, I would really appreciate it! Post here, or let me know via email: babillman@wisc.edu.
Thank you so much!

Note: Quick change to comments on this blog

2006-04-07T09:41:00.000-05:00

Since I've gotten some interest in our class blog and class wiki from outside of the class, I'm opening up the comments to anyone who takes the time to register with Blogger (that is, no anonymous comments allowed, but pseudonymous comments are OK). This means you'll have to enter a pesky "security word" each time you post or comment, unfortunately (you'll see when the time comes).

Ethics for librarians

2006-04-06T13:17:00.000-05:00

After our class discussion today, Louise Robbins forwarded to me this draft of a Canadian Library Association "POSITION STATEMENT ON INFORMATION ETHICS IN LIS EDUCATION" which is an interesting twist on censorship and intellectual freedom debates.

Knowledge and understanding of pluralistic intercultural information ethical theories and concepts, including the ethical conflicts and responsibilities facing library and information professionals around the world, is necessary to relevant teaching, learning, and reflection in the field of library and information studies and information-related professions. Many important areas and issues currently facing library and information professionals can only be understood in light of their ethical contexts. Also, the contributions that library and information studies can make to knowledge societies can be significantly informed by their attention to information ethics.

As suggested by universal core values promoted by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and other professional organizations and world bodies it is our responsibility to participate critically in the global discourse of information ethics, as it pertains to, at least, the following articles of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

• Respect for the dignity of human beings (Art. 1)
• Confidentiality (Art. 1, 2, 3, 6)
• Equality of opportunity (Art. 2, 7)
• Privacy (Art. 3, 12)
• Right to freedom of opinion and expression (Art. 19)
• Right to participate in the cultural life of the community (Art. 27)
• Right to the protection of the moral and material interests concerning any scientific, literary or artistic production (Art. 27)

The Information Ethics Special Interest Group of the Association for Library and Information Science Education strongly advocates that information ethics should be encouraged as an important aspect of education, research, scholarship, service, and practice in library and information studies and in other related professions. It therefore advocates that attention to information ethics (either through the curriculum, instructor expertise, resources, activities) be developed and enhanced in all programs of library and information studies education. Schools of library and information studies are urged to implement this recommendation to achieve the following desirable outcomes:

1. The curriculum should be informed by information ethics through a unit in the required foundations (or equivalent) course. This unit should cover the following student objectives:

• to be able to recognize and articulate ethical conflicts in the information field;
• to inculcate a sense of responsibility with regard to the consequences of individual and collective interactions in the information field;
• to provide the foundations for intercultural dialogue through the recognition of different kinds of information cultures and values;
• to provide basic knowledge about ethical theories and concepts and about their relevance to everyday information work; and,
• to learn to reflect ethically and to think critically and to carry these abilities into their professional life.

2. There should be offered periodically one or more courses devoted specifically to information ethics. Such courses should be taught by a qualified member of the faculty and be based on international literatures from a diversity of viewpoints.

3. Information ethics should be included in study and discussion across the library and information curriculum. It should be infused throughout the curriculum in such areas as management, young adult services, information literacy training, and information-technology related courses.

4. There should be ongoing engagement with information ethics, as challenging questions and issues need to be revisited through the lenses of individuals, institutions, and societies.

Thoughts?

In Time of War

2006-04-05T09:04:00.000-05:00

This article from American Libraries juxtaposes public library actions after 9/11 with their actions during in the 1940s in order to illustrate how libraries responded to WWII in their collection development policies, patron services, and even in their compliance with the federal Office of War Information. Becker writes that intellectual freedom was a "fairly new professional committment" and most libraries/librarians fulfilled requests by the Office of Facts and Figures and the FBI that violated their patrons' privacy. When libraries/librarians objected to censorship or invasions of their patron privacy, they did so mostly on "practical grounds."

So what happened in the next few decades that made the Library Bill of Rights and the ALA's stance on intellectual freedom and censorship central to the profession? What socio-political forces changed the way in which public libraries dealt with censorship? And why were libraries complicit in violating patron privacy and removing "offensive" or "dangerous" materials from their shelves during WWII?

Final Book Report

2006-04-05T08:45:00.000-05:00

I, also, have forgotten to post my book info for the final project. I am working on Libraries in the Age of Mediocrity, by Earl Lee. Lee writes postmodern essays on a huge variety of library topics, and it will be interesting to compare and contrast this book to other books/topics from our class.

Censorship and Intellectual Freedom

2006-04-04T23:34:00.000-05:00

The encyclopedia article on censorship is especially interesting, becuase it focuses on who exactly attempts to censor reading materials and ideas. Librarians, popes, political leaders, and feminists are just a few of the groups that have attempted censorship of particular materials. All are offended by certain elements and have different means for promoting the censorship of specific materials. The intellectual freedom article addresses the more political aspects of censorship practiced by governments. China, the Soviet Union, and South Africa (and certainly the United States, too) have all practiced censorship and have used to different means to discourage certain ideas and teachings. Governments can simply ban certain materials, or libraries can restrict access to certain areas, or , as in the cases of the United States and South Africa, can practice partial censorship through racial profiling in an attempt to prevent subervise, independent behavior. I think the word censorship certainly has negative connotation, but putting that aside do you think there is value in censorship? Does it prevent the fermentation of certain dangerous ideas? Or does it simply make people more curious about certain materials?

Censorship and fear at the California Library

2006-04-04T20:36:00.000-05:00

The Mediavilla article about the California libraries and the CLA has a lot of meaty stuff going on, I don't know where to start!

In particular, I was very interested in the ways that librarians self censored themselves at this time period, the ways that paranoia and fear existed long after McCarthy, and their opinion that if a book was challenged, no one would be there to back them up.

Were their fears justified? In what ways have we seen self-censorship already, and how do you think it functioned in libraries for the rest of the cold war? Have librarians become more bold, or could these fears still be justified today?

I'll have more questions about the Burbank attempt at book labeling and the various attempt at legislation for class on Thursday!

The Library Bill of Rights in the 1960’s: One Profession, One Ethic

2006-04-04T16:53:00.000-05:00

This article demonstrates how the Bill of Rights was interpreted and how controversy ensued. The article focuses on the views held by David Berninghausen who took a stance on intellectual freedom, on the profession’s response to his views, and the implications it had for the profession.

Do you agree with Berninghausen’s views on intellectual freedom or do you side with the SRRT and why? (It’s a pretty simple question, so please be elaborate in your response. Thanks!)

Book choice-Dear Miss Breed

2006-04-03T13:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I fell way behind in posting this. For my final paper, I'm reading "Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During WWII and a Librarian Who Made a Difference," by Joanne Oppenheim. It is a book full of the stories of young people in the internment camps of America and their letters to one librarian who kept them supplied with books and kind letters. The internment camp was in Arizona, though the occupants were from elsewhere, including California, where they were patrons of Miss Breed's library. It is a book that just came out this year and is targeted at a YA audience, but so full of primary source material on a darker part of our nation's history that it is a good read for anyone who is interested.

Libraries talked about in weblogs

2006-03-31T13:20:00.000-06:00

An interesting local weblog posting on the Madison Public Librarymakes me wonder how today's blog musings will work as the primary sources of tomorrow's library histories. For example:

At the library again. The computers are all taken up by Madison's homeless, who spend most of their time playing online video games until their two hours are up. I'm not exactly sure why the library allows this; it seems like it should be against some kind of rule. There is a small, hooded Asian kid to my right watching Wrestlemania clips, and an elderly black man to my left doing his taxes. His half-hour session is almost up, and he's not finished. Across the aisle, a stubble-cheeked guy with a stack of VHS is looking at Craigslist postings of sublets. Every so many minutes I hear a different person complaining to the young woman at the tech desk about how the computer won't let them log on, and she has to explain about the two hour limit. Again. Everyone turns around to watch because the tech desk girl is pretty. The Asian kid just got busted for using multiple cards to log in past his limit. I had no idea the library was such a hotbed of intrigue.

The Public Library Inquiry

2006-03-29T08:13:00.000-06:00

This article by Robert Leigh describes the results of a study investigating the status of public libraries in the 1950s completed by a group of social scientists. The questions below come from Molly, Alycia, and Tonia.

The social scientists who performed the inquiry into the public library system entered into their research with a set of basic assumptions and premises about the public library system based on their conceptualizations of the type of society our library system had originated from. The author outlined his six basic assumptions in regards to freedom of communication, the opportunity to learn, popular control and expert direction, special groups and mediating function, centralization and local participation, and technological change and institutional tradition. Are these issues still the six most important issues when looking at the functionality of libraries? Have the interactions between these factors changed due to changes in our legislation, level of technological advancement and popular culture?

The study also predicted that “conflicting concepts and values will appear in the description of library policy and practice,” and that many of the public library’s main problems would arise out of their attempt to reconcile those conflicts (11). Are any of the conflicts and problems later discussed in the study “new,” or are these problems that have also been coming up within the profession in library history up to this point?

What does the Leigh article, which describes the status of public libraries at the end of the 1940's tell us about who was using the library in the Barelson article? Does Leigh's article add any perspective as to why some groups would or would not appear prominently at the library, or do you think Leigh's perspective differs from librarians of this period in terms of what he thinks is valuable reading material? How do the problems or controversies regarding popular fiction (that we have discussed in the past and that are
mentioned here) inform us about who might use the library in this time period or about who might find the library the most useful?

From Christine Pawley's book we know that there were often many diverse groups of people within one geographic area served by a public library, and that within a larger community there may be smaller "imagined" communities networked through commonalities in thought or opinion. Do you feel that Leigh or Barelson are making assumptions here about who they are referring to when they talk about the "community" or were users of the library (any readers of these articles) predominantly white, middle class urban folks so that it is justified to use assumed values of the middle class in arguing against having popular culture, fiction and "trashy" or "unorthodox" materials widely available in the library? Does the dominant culture (whatever it may be within different libraries or areas) always dictate what is found in the library rather than "imagined" communities or minority groups and values? Does the Library Bill of Rights have any effect on this?

What does it mean that Leigh's study was 1. completed by sociologists
(or non-librarians) within a sociological framework 2. requested by the
ALA and 3. funded by the Carnegie Corporation, if anything at all? How
should these facts inform our reading from what we have learned of
these aspects in class thus far?

Do the social scientists’ conclusions about public libraries differ from the perceptions provided by librarians? How does their conclusion regarding library schooling that “it would seem desirable to distinguish sharply between instruction for nonprofessional technical jobs…and graduate instruction for the professional degree” compare with our knowledge of library schools and the desire of librarians to establish themselves as professionals up to this point? Consider the conflict between the status of professionals and paraprofessionals in libraries today. Has the social scientists’ recommendation for library schools been resolved?

Book for final project

2006-03-28T22:00:00.000-06:00

I just realized I forgot to post this! Sorry! I'll be reading "Privacy in the 21st Century: Issues for Public, School, and Academic Libraries" by by Helen R. Adams, Robert F. Bocher, Carol A. Gordon, and Elizabeth Barry-Kessler. It is a brand new book that just came out about two months ago, so I'm looking forward to being on the cutting edge of relevency.

Berelson, "Who Uses the Public Library?" II

2006-03-28T18:44:00.000-06:00

"By and large, the older the people, the less they use the public library." (p. 23)

Berelson uses a good deal of his article to discuss age as a determinative factor of who uses the public library. Through several figures, he rigorously illustrates that in 1949, a large proportion of library users were school-age youths, between the ages of 5 and 15. He states one possible reason for this could be the physical ailments associated with age, i.e., lessened energy or "eyestrain." I wasn't really buying that reasoning.

Yet, he makes a much more compelling argument when he links age and education. He states that increasingly, younger adults have had more formal education than their elders and therefore more experience with written material in general, and the public library specifically. He even speculated that as the number of people exposed to formal education increased, the age of patrons would correspondingly rise. I am curious about the progression from Berelson's observations in 1949 on age, education level, and the public library to age and education level in the public library today. Do school-aged youths still make up a higher proportion of public library patronage today? If Berelson's predictions have turned out correct (and I think it seems that they have at least in part) is it solely due to the proliferation of formal education in our society? Is this a strictly linear progression or have other factors played a role in raising the age of patrons?

Nuns vs. Librarians

2006-03-26T13:45:00.000-06:00

The today show did a segment about a week ago on a spelling bee between a group of nuns and librarians. It's pretty entertaining and the clip itself is only 2 minutes long. To see it, go to msn.com, click on video highlights, and where it says "MSN Video Search," replace with "nuns". The video is titled "Spelling nuns get the buzz for bees again". Click and enjoy.

"Who Uses the Public Library?"

2006-03-26T11:56:00.000-06:00

"It is also relevant, and perhaps more important, to inquire into the relationship of the occupational composition of the public library's clientele to that of the population as a whole. Is the library's clientele a representative sample of the total adult population by occupation? Again the answer is "No." Professional and managerial people, students, and white-collar workers make greater use of the public library, relatively speaking, than do the other occupational groups." (pp.33-34)

"The young use the library more than the old, the better-educated more than the lesser educated and women more than, and differently from, men. The public library serves the middle class, defined either by occupation or by economic status, more than either the upper or lower classes."
(pp.49-50)

Good social progressives that most librarians are, it is taken a priori that the number of working-class and poor people who use the library should be increased. But working people, as a single homogenous group, generally do not go to libraries. The homeless go there; some immigrants go there; and often the children of the poor (especially the children of recent immigrants) go there. But the people librarians most desperately want to reach out to--working-class adults--never do.

Is that a problem? Are we wasting our time, having been chasing these people now for almost a century?

Discussion on Libraries & War

2006-03-22T19:06:00.000-06:00

In class on 3/23, we will be giving you some time for small group discussions on one or both of the following questions. We would like you to start thinking about these issues, but please do NOT post anything about it here to the weblog until after class.

Question 1: How does the ALA response to censorship, loyalty investigations and other privacy issues from 1930-1950 as discussed in this week’s readings compare and contrast to what you know of the ALA’s response to the current Iraq war and specifically the Patriot Act?

Question 2: The weblog discussion of our last reading (Pawley’s book) raised the question of how future historians can do research on patrons’ reading habits given the lack of current library records that link an item to a patron’s record. How do you think we can balance patrons’ privacy concerns in the 21st century (particularly in the current climate with the Patriot Act laws) and the desire of future library and print culture historians to study reading trends for our time?

book review part deux

2006-03-22T18:58:00.000-06:00

On the other hand, I may just look at Unprofessional behavior : confessions of a public librarian by Will Manley. It sounds pretty interesting and I'm sure there may be some insightful reflections on the trials and tribulations of a public librarian. So yeah, maybe that's the way to go...

book review

2006-03-22T18:53:00.000-06:00

I think I will most likely look at portions of "Patience and Fortitude: Wherein a Colorful Cast of Determined Book Collectors, Dealers, and Librarians Go About the Quixotic Task of Preserving a Legacy." I would like to look at the library's role in preservation of information in contrast to access of information. Does that make sense?

Book Review

2006-03-22T18:24:00.000-06:00

I keep changing my mind, but I think that I am going to read Defining Print Culture for Youth edited by Lundin and Wiegand. We have touched on this subject a little bit with previous readings, but I thought it would be interesting to read more about children's lit in depth.

Library Bill of Rights

2006-03-22T11:20:00.000-06:00

I'm just throwing this out there, but it sounds like the Library Bill of Rights is similar to a kind of legislation or constitution of some sort. Is there any sort of punishment though if libraries don't uphold these rights? It seems like there is a problem with the actual following through of ideas and organizations, despite the fact that they are "official" or in print. Their reality isn't always as effective as their ideals. Should their be some sort of accountability for libraries nationwide? or is this ridiculous?

Final Book Review

2006-03-22T09:28:00.000-06:00

I'm going to read An active instrument for propaganda" : the American public library during World War I by Wayne Wiegand. I'm an advertising major so propaganda really interests me. I'm thinking this book is going to be great and, you've gotta support Wayne :)

book for final report

2006-03-21T12:08:00.000-06:00

For the final book report, I intend to read Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. I think Putnam's book will be a good match to what we have read in class in general and Pawley specifically and I will consider what role libraries and print culture have had in light of the arguments Putman makes. I also think that Putnam can provide some valuable insight into the roles of libraries in the future, as growth of technology creates a society that is interlinked even more, but paradoxically feels more physically isolating.

Book selection: Running a Message Parlor

2006-03-20T16:40:00.000-06:00

I've selected Gordon McShean's Running a Message Parlor: A Librarian's Medium-rare Memoir about Censorship because it reminds me of the "Radical Librarian" articles and it presents a librarian's view of the Swinging '60s/'70s and his struggle against the unhip censors from the DAR and John Birch Society.

This is probably also the only book about librarianship with a cartoon of a naked man on the cover.

final paper book selection

2006-03-20T14:27:00.000-06:00

I have chosen A Splendor of Letters: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World by Nicholas A. Basbanes for my final paper. I chose this book because I am interested in archives, preservation, and book collecting. I'm hoping to be able to draw parallels between A Splendor of Letters, Double Fold, and possibly Reading on the Middle Border.

final paper

2006-03-20T12:39:00.000-06:00

For my final paper I'm looking at reading Making the List: A Cultural History of the American Bestseller by Micheal Korda. I'm interested in looking closely into why people read what they do, and how current events affects people's choices- or, if it is more closely linked to longevity of popular authors, or popular series (ie: Grisham, Steele, etc). A common thread in our readings so far this semester is our excitement over what people considered "good" and "bad" reading, as we've looked over books that were considered risque at some point, or in some locations. I think Korda's book is going to be interesting in that regards, to show how what might be considered controversial might still be popular. I think libraries really need to be in touch with what people are interested in, and alot of times I think they rely on the bestseller lists to show them what to order- Korda uses the Bookman lists and Pub. Weekly, so it might also be interesting to find circulation records on those books deemed popular in a year, as well as to examine if some genres are represented more often than others, if there are "male" and "female" books still today, and overall, how today's society, and past societies have shaped and reflected (or not) what people read.

Final Book Review

2006-03-20T09:04:00.000-06:00

I will be reviewing Reading Sites: Social Difference and Reader Response, ed. by Partocinio Schweikart and Elizabeth Flynn. I chose this book because I am very interested in the issues of reading practices and gender, race, ethnicity, class and other "social categories" as they relate to librarianship and the history of libraries and librarianship. This book "examines a host of genres, from nineteenth-century working-class autobiographies and twentieth-century women's confessional magazines to detective fiction and book-club selections, to question how various groups of readers and authors identify with competing social hierarchies." I think it will be very interesting to apply the theories and issues discussed in this book to library history and the themes we have examined in this class.

Final Book Review

2006-03-19T18:13:00.000-06:00

For the final paper I will be reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. As I am sure most people are aware, this book discusses the 'flattening' of the world that is occuring with the internet spreading information more quickly that ever before. I'm not completely familiar with Friedman's entire thesis, but I believe he proposes that information is now spread by multinational corporations rather than countries. Due to economics, political/government control over the spread of information is weakening, while the internet and corporations are spreading information faster than ever.

I'm interested in exploring how the spead of information and the multinational corporation's control over information is affecting libraries and patrons. Additionally, I would like to explore how users interpret a library's function/usefulness in light of the internet and economic influences on information.

Final Book Review

2006-03-19T13:16:00.000-06:00

I chose Censorship and the American Library: The American Library Association's Response to Threats to Intellectual Freedom 1939-1969 by Louise Robbins for the final review. In this book Louise Robbins examines how the ALA addressed censorship and challenges to intellectual freedom, but she also traces how the profession developed as it responded to these issues. I wanted to read this because these issues are so fundamental to library and U.S. history. In addition, library science and history are still very new to me and I wanted to read a book a could provide a good foundation.

Final Book Review

2006-03-19T12:13:00.000-06:00

For my final book review, I will be reading Carnegie Denied: Communities Rejecting Carnegie Library Construction Grants 1898-1925 edit by Robert Sidney Martin. This is a collection of seven stories of communities that rejected Carnegie funding for their public libraries. The communities discussed in this compellation include a wide geographic scope and encompass a range of reasons for rejecting Carnegie's money. I am particularly interested in the communities where unionized labor was vocal is the rejection of this money after the Homestead strike of 1892.

Book choice

2006-03-18T12:08:00.000-06:00

I will be reading The Gutenberg Elegies: the fate of reading in an electronic age by Sven Birkerts for my final book review. I think this book will be interesting in comparison to Pawley's history of print culture in terms of how it might be affected by the electronic age. I am also interested to see what Birkerts has to say about the impact technology has on literary culture, particularly as it relates to some of the library trends exposed in Double Fold.

Final Book Review

2006-03-17T08:44:00.000-06:00

I will be reading A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel for my final book review. I chose this book because of our recent discussions regarding the history of print culture and how libraries fit into that history. I think that this history of the transitions of written word will also provide insight to the changing ways that people read over time. It will be interesting to see how changing ways of reading corresspond to the changes in libraries over time.

book review

2006-03-16T08:54:00.000-06:00

I have chosen to read the Professor and the madman, a tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the oxford english dictionary: by Simon Winchester.I am choosing this book because of my interest in the title of the book, and the fact that I was supposed to read it for another class that I dropped for this one (I really wanted to read it.) I'm very facinated with the notion of where we draw the line between brillance and madness and the title eludes that this book will be dealing with insanity. There are some very interesting ideas that are thrown around when talking about Melville Dewey and his obsessive compulsive issues and how this most likely shaped many of the ideas of how the library greatly shifted from a place for the upper class to work and play to a place for everyone; the public domain.

Final Book Review

2006-03-16T01:06:00.000-06:00

For my final book review, I am choosing to read Library: An Unquiet History by Matthew Battles, a rare book librarian at Harvard. The book discusses the social meaning of the library and how that shifts over time throughout the world. Battles discusses library buildings and burnings (both books and buildings) and specifically recounts the book burning done in Nazi Germany during WWII (a subject of particular interest to me). According to Publishers Weekly (courtesy of Amazon.com), Battles' theme is "despite the rule of barbarians or megalomaniacal kings, angry mobs and natural disasters, people's hunger for books has ensured the library's survival." And if that's not a hopeful thought for spring, I don't know what is....