Responsibilities of librarians concerning access and diversity

Friday I attended the Community of Oklahoma Instruction Librarians (COIL) unConference at NSU, Muskogee where the focus was upon "Participatory learning in the age of the unengaged." One workshop was very thought provoking as the presenter described the use of controversial topics to promote information literacy. He began by explaining how not being from Oklahoma he found many of the laws and attitudes narrow minded and discriminatory. Specifically he spoke of the concealed weapons law which keeps making an appearance in the Oklahoma Legislature. The use of a "hot topic" immediately engaged the students but also brought to bare the place of bias teaching. He suggested librarians should not be afraid to show their views as attempting to be neutral may backfire. Of course overall he emphasized the need to instruct students on the use of legitimate sources, such that it did not matter which side you took so long as you could back it up. His presentation engaged the participants and created its own controversy. Interestingly he broke us up into pros/cons and we had to develop points. One of the women in my group stated, "I'm so pro on this I can't even think of a con." I felt that discouraging since being information literate means being able to consider all sides. At one point in his presentation she turned to me and said, "if he doesn't like it here, why doesn't he just leave." paraphrasing..."those of us born here like it this way." To which I replied, "well I was born here and I agree with him." She pretty much said I needed to find my way out too then! She did suggest that in her own teaching she discourages "redneck papers" and while she may let it be known her view she leaves it up to the students to make their own judgments by instructing on valid sources. My blood pressure was rising this entire time but also made me realize the need to speak peacefully about controversial views and how being intolerant towards intolerance is just as bad. Bringing this back to my responsibilities/obligations this experience reminded me of the need to assist students in finding a wide array of legitimate information sources regardless of their views. If I were in a position of collection development I must also ensure I included books like "Glen Beck's Common Sense" right along with "A People's History of the United States." In the words of John Swan (1986),“The knowledge of truth and the knowledge of untruth, like the knowledge of good and evil, are indissolubly joined. Our cause, professionally and politically, is with both of them”

Waiting

Waiting always fretting. Thinking there should be more when alas there is none. Hearing explicitness, nullifying wonderment. Believing specialness to be applied only to the gilded when in fact the bark of the tree is more special and free. Only once the drizzle of rain upon the window becomes the focus will waiting be content.

Chicago Manual of Style...you're not that special.

Got to love small town Oklahoma.

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Documentation of Culture

Websites such as ibiblio and the Internet Archive have a positive impact on the sharing of information and knowledge creation. It allows for the organic documentation of culture. The preservation and cataloging of information on the internet by a mutlitude of users including professionals and amateurs is an on-going experiment that shows many positive potentials. Previously history was written by the winner and the dominating society often destroyed information of the people they conquered. Allowing anyone with internet access an opportunity to document and index anything could result in the creation of a repository reflective of humanity and not just the privileged few. Downfalls of such a movement include the confusion generated from shear amounts of information along with issues related to validity and origins. Considerations of the quality of infrastructure and maintenance of such archives is important. Nonetheless just as cultural artifacts and products of folklore provide informal insight into civilizaition, public libraries and archives provide valuable content. These types of depositories offer an egalitarian approach to the preservation of knowledge in a way not previously achievable.

Happy World Ocean Day! Don't forget to clip your plastic rings! http://ping.fm/czJMt