Last semester in 5033, part of our final essay assignment was to agree or disagree with Vaidhyanathan's excerpt we were given from his article "The Perfect Library" (which I totally screwed up, but really enjoyed, btw!).
After reading the entire article for Dr. Martens' class this semester, it takes on a whole new meaning; which is that the flow of information is spurred on my libraries because they represent Enlightenment, and that corporations and others in power, albeit theocracies or monarchies, withold information to gain money and power. I wholeheartedly agree with these ideas.
To paraphrase a quote from this article, a city that cares enough to establish and maintain libraries is a city that cares about enlightenment and public knowledge. Horray!
Another topic Vaidhyanathan writes about which has bearing on intellectual freedom and flow of information is the 9/11 inspired USA Patriot Act. I have discussed the ramifications of the USA Patriot act with people inside and outside of LIS classes, libraries, etc. and everyone agrees that it should have never been passed. Nobody in Congress took the time to read it, and boy, are we sorry now. In my short "adult" life, this is the largest example of "the man" using his power to squelch "enlightenment" in the USA, feeding off fear and deception to promote a "safer America." Granted, we don't get bombed everyday or stone people as punishment, but robbing someone from intellectual freedom is just as bad, in an ethical sense, I think.
Libaries have been a haven for free-thinkers, scholars, those interested in broadening their minds since their history (in the US, maybe world too, but I don't know enough about library history to quote dates and such). Why should we stop this wonderful aspect of social enlightment because of technology? My opinion of libraries is that they have done a darn good job at keeping up with technology, especially considering they are non-profit entities who get little funding. It is unglamorous and (I don't think) not highly sought after to be a librarian. But those who do are passionate and unstoppable. And thank goodness there are some of us still left! Gone are the days of encyclopedias and big, musty books, and here are the days of electronic databases, websites, and e-mail. People in the library profession must constantly keep up with the fast-paced technological advancements, while juggling the old traditions of accuracy, provenance and reliable sources.
(that was my "ham-handed" segue into technology)
Veith makes a really interesting point in his article about the Memex machine of the 1940s. I have to admit, when I read the article's title and subheading, I groaned and prepared to grit my teeth, because it looks way too "techie." However, as I was about 2 pages into the article, a light bulb clicked on in my brain, and I began to see the resemblance of Bush's ideas for imbedding codes, linking pages together, and "shrinking massive quantities of information to an incredibly small space" to libraries, although Veith states multiple times that this article was not about libaries, but about personal storage space. Still, I saw it, I linked it, so that's in my Memex now.
Libraries try to follow that pattern with the catalog and patron accessibility, and with their websites and programs. Sometimes they do a good job, sometimes they don't. But, the fact that they try speaks volumes for an society concerned about enlightment.
We've talked alot about findability, and I think a synonym that is quite applicable in this case is "linkability." Someone may have already said this, but I haven't read all the posts yet (so sorry if I am "plagiarizing" anyone's post!) If you can't successfully link, or get people to link two or more items together, then you have more work to do, as a librarian, specifically speaking. I am beginning to feel this crunch because I am newly in charge of holding some library programs. Trying to "persuade" people to do things, even if it's for a noble cause, can be really tricky. But it's worth it, it's totally worth it.
After reading the entire article for Dr. Martens' class this semester, it takes on a whole new meaning; which is that the flow of information is spurred on my libraries because they represent Enlightenment, and that corporations and others in power, albeit theocracies or monarchies, withold information to gain money and power. I wholeheartedly agree with these ideas.
To paraphrase a quote from this article, a city that cares enough to establish and maintain libraries is a city that cares about enlightenment and public knowledge. Horray!
Another topic Vaidhyanathan writes about which has bearing on intellectual freedom and flow of information is the 9/11 inspired USA Patriot Act. I have discussed the ramifications of the USA Patriot act with people inside and outside of LIS classes, libraries, etc. and everyone agrees that it should have never been passed. Nobody in Congress took the time to read it, and boy, are we sorry now. In my short "adult" life, this is the largest example of "the man" using his power to squelch "enlightenment" in the USA, feeding off fear and deception to promote a "safer America." Granted, we don't get bombed everyday or stone people as punishment, but robbing someone from intellectual freedom is just as bad, in an ethical sense, I think.
Libaries have been a haven for free-thinkers, scholars, those interested in broadening their minds since their history (in the US, maybe world too, but I don't know enough about library history to quote dates and such). Why should we stop this wonderful aspect of social enlightment because of technology? My opinion of libraries is that they have done a darn good job at keeping up with technology, especially considering they are non-profit entities who get little funding. It is unglamorous and (I don't think) not highly sought after to be a librarian. But those who do are passionate and unstoppable. And thank goodness there are some of us still left! Gone are the days of encyclopedias and big, musty books, and here are the days of electronic databases, websites, and e-mail. People in the library profession must constantly keep up with the fast-paced technological advancements, while juggling the old traditions of accuracy, provenance and reliable sources.
(that was my "ham-handed" segue into technology)
Veith makes a really interesting point in his article about the Memex machine of the 1940s. I have to admit, when I read the article's title and subheading, I groaned and prepared to grit my teeth, because it looks way too "techie." However, as I was about 2 pages into the article, a light bulb clicked on in my brain, and I began to see the resemblance of Bush's ideas for imbedding codes, linking pages together, and "shrinking massive quantities of information to an incredibly small space" to libraries, although Veith states multiple times that this article was not about libaries, but about personal storage space. Still, I saw it, I linked it, so that's in my Memex now.
Libraries try to follow that pattern with the catalog and patron accessibility, and with their websites and programs. Sometimes they do a good job, sometimes they don't. But, the fact that they try speaks volumes for an society concerned about enlightment.
We've talked alot about findability, and I think a synonym that is quite applicable in this case is "linkability." Someone may have already said this, but I haven't read all the posts yet (so sorry if I am "plagiarizing" anyone's post!) If you can't successfully link, or get people to link two or more items together, then you have more work to do, as a librarian, specifically speaking. I am beginning to feel this crunch because I am newly in charge of holding some library programs. Trying to "persuade" people to do things, even if it's for a noble cause, can be really tricky. But it's worth it, it's totally worth it.
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