librarians

Librarian and Archivist Delegation to Palestine

Some members of Radical Reference are involved in this trip:

A delegation of librarians, archivists, and other library workers will travel to Palestine in the summer of 2013. We will connect with our colleagues in library- and archive-related projects and institutions there, applying our experience in the form of skillshares and other types of joint work. We will travel as truth-seekers and information-skeptics, eager to dispense with the superficial and inaccurate portrayals of life in Israel/Palestine that we see in the west and to learn about the realities of life under occupation and apartheid. As library workers, we support access to information, and recognize that this goes in more than one direction. Our trip will shed light on how Palestinian voices and information about Palestine reach us (or do not) and how Palestinian people access (or cannot access) information. We will bear witness to the destruction and appropriation of information, and support efforts to preserve cultural heritage and archival materials in Palestine. Upon return to our communities, we will share what we have seen, apply what we have learned, publicize projects we have visited, and otherwise break down barriers to access in any way we can.

Charles Willett 1932-2012

I want to acknowledge the passing of longtime librarian/activist Charles M. Willett. Charles founded the Civic Media Center in Gainesville, Florida and Counterpoise (alternative library review journal) & Librarians at Liberty magazines. Once a collection development librarian, one of Charles's great passions was getting alternative press publications into libraries. I forget the exact (contentious) history*, but Charles was also involved in the Alternatives in Print [now Alternative Media] task force of SRRT/ALA. There's a lot more that could be said about Charles and his accomplishments. Here is how The Gainesville Sun put it:

Libraries and Political Instability

answer: 

You might want to take a look at "Questioning Library Neutrality," edited by Alison Lewis. Of potential interest is a bibliography titled "Activist Librarianship: Heritage or Heresy? One Librarian's Two-Part List of Relevant and Thoughtful Reading for the Engaged Librarian and the Involved Citizen" by Ann Sparanese.

I'm not sure that this would address your idea of "unstable or revolutionary times," but it definitely lists many great sources for the study of radical librarianship.

Some other sources of information along the same lines: Revolting Librarians and Revolting Librarians Redux, and Alternative Library Literature.

Related Question

Desk Set Library Trivia Nite

Second Annual
Library & Literature
Trivia Night

Thursday August 27th
Sign up begins at 6:30
7 PM Trivia

Library jobs

answer: 

The Occupational Outlook Handbook gets 13 hits for librarians and 27 for library. Finding the most popular library related jobs will be a little tricky, because many of them are listed under categories such as web developers, media specialists, information architects, and many others. You may need to go with very broad searches in journal or newspaper databases. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) gets 139 hits for the search: library jobs. Librarians and employment outlook gets 5 hits. But trying the phrase "most popular" gets very little - "most popular jobs" got zero hits, even searching full text; even "most popular" and jobs got just 9 not too promising ones. LISTA does not link to nearly as much full text as do some other databases, however. Academic Search Premier (available at many if not most academic libraries) gets 17 hits for: most popular and library jobs (in "TX - all text")

Masterfile Premier (less technical than Academic Search, and more geared to public libraries), gets 16 hits for: most popular and library jobs. You might even try very general searches in business databases. In Factiva, the search: most popular jobs (searching full text) gets only 59 hits in the past 2 years.

But I think the biggest problem in this search will be the huge variety of jobs in contemporary libraries. For example, in many large libraries Information Technology is one of the biggest departments, and is heavily weighted toward programmers, hardware technicians, and computer interface specialists. Also, this does not even account for the large number of "de-facto" librarians, who do the same kind of research and reference that we in "Libraries" do, but who work for publishers, scholarly societies, Web search engine providers, and countless other companies that may very well call them Assistant Manager, IT Officer, or many other titles.

Related Question

QUESTION: Libraries and Video games

question / pregunta: 

Hello,

I'm studying for my MLS (only my 3rd class) and I need to write a paper on the pros and cons of libraries and video gaming. I thought there would be plenty on the topic but all I'm finding is video gaming is a positive and how to get your library involved. I can't find information on libraries/librarians against video gaming in libraries. Do you have any suggestions? Know of any articles? Suggestions on search terms (libraries/librarians/problems/controversy/issues/videogames/video games/electronic games (which video games are under) are appreciated also. I need about 6 articles on it.

Thank you

Syndicate content