Why Archivists Go To Library School � Hack Library School

I was particular struck by the following passage of Stephanie Bennett's recent post, Why Archivists Go To Library School, on the Hack Library School blog:Archivists, in some ways, are fighting a battle even more uphill than librarians. A bold statement, but hear me out. Everyone – well, nearly everyone – has been into a library at some point in their life. Schools of all kinds and for all ages, corporations, not-for-profits, even prisons have libraries. But who goes to the archives? Who even know what to go to the archives for? We archivists appeal to a more niche population. I spend a lot of time trying to explain what archives are and, most...

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#2 and #3 in a Religiously Pessimistic Trilogy

GRAPHIC SOURCE: http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2011/06/02/bus-company-baloneyThe two topics I'm highlighting in this blog post are a follow up to #1 in a Religiously Pessimistic Trilogy, where I reveal my point of view as a person who feels no connection to dogmatic religions and identifies as agnostic or irreligious, though I dislike such labels.I apologize for the length of this post. Ideally I would have posted this as two separate...

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#1 in Religiously Pessimistic Trilogy

Image Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134194491/high-court-rules-for-military-funeral-protestersThe three topics I'll touch on over my next two blog postings were chosen by me as a person who has always had trouble feeling connected to dogmatic religions or even to really commit to any particular spiritual beliefs. Most days I am somewhere around +1 to -57 on a Pure atheism / Pure theism continuum (although I don't really feel comfortable...

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Driving Around with Big Brother

Example of an Event Data Recorder (EDR) Device via http://www.njlawman.com/news/event-data-recorder.htmBruce Schneier - Black Box Records in Automobiles (May 26, 2011)http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2011/05/black_box_recor.html Keith Barry - Automotive Black Boxes, Minus the Gray Area (May 23, 2011)http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/05/automotive-black-boxes/ "Binary Blogger" - Black Boxes In Your Car, Safety Issue Or Easier To Apply Blame?...

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Controversial Films in Library Collections

Last week during group forum discussion for this course, we examined a 2010 article by Rebecca Hill entitled, "Gritty, Tough, Edgy, and Controversial: YA Authors Who Tackle Forbidden Subjects and Why They Do It", which basically relates Hill's examination of the issue of library book challenges and library censorship. Hill interviews several YA book authors who are known for writing these kinds of books--namely Judy Blume, Laurie Halse Anderson,...

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Libraries and Consumer Empowerment

Image Source: Zazzle.comTwo recent articles that relate to online privacy and consumer empowerment have been on my mind:Some Thoughts on Internet Privacy Legislation (Law Librarian Blog; 5 May)Internet data collection: The privacy line (LA Times; 8 May)The LA Times piece boldly opens:Apple introduced its Macintosh computer in 1984 with a now-famous Super Bowl commercial that showed a lone rebel striking out against Big Brother. So it was ironic that...

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Welcome...

Image Source: Flickr User Nicole Salow(Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License)How's it going?This is my obligatory "welcome" post.I'm currently a MLS (Master of Library Science) distance-student at the School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University Bloomington at Indianapolis (what a mouthful!).This blog has been created as part of the course requirements for a seminar in "Intellectual Freedom" within...

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