A Revolutionary Library

Let me begin by stating that I am not an anarchist and I do not always subscribe to the old saying, "Rules were made to be broken." However, I do believe that unjust laws and rules have been (and will be) created. When this occurs, I believe it is our moral obligation to do everything in our power to have those laws and rules repealed. Furthermore, I also believe that, on occasion, it is appropriate to violate those unjust laws and rules because they do not further the good of the community and/or enhance the development of moral virtue of all citizens.

Now, in order to keep this from turning into a political philosophy lecture or debate, I will get to the main point of this blog posting. Last week I was telling a friend of mine about my Seminar in Intellectual Freedom class and he sent me a link to a post on Yahoo! Answers. To summarize, the post was supposedly written by a Catholic high school student who is running an underground library out of their locker; the covert collection contains books that have been banned by the schools administrators. Some of the titles the student makes available to the "library's" arcane patrons are: Animal Farm, Grimm's Fairy Tales (Unabridged), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Paradise Lost, The Divine Comedy, and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. At any rate, I thought it was a novel, interesting, and virtuous idea and I fully support the student's endeavor. What do you think?

Viva la revolution!

Content Filters

First of all, let me make this perfectly clear: "I do not believe that content filters will protect our nations youth from the "evils" of this world and I do not advocate them in schools or public libraries because I believe they prevent minors from obtaining appropriate, useful, and much needed information."

Now that I have that out of the way, I do have a major issue with the research conducted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center as reported in the article Faulty Filters Block Access to Kid-Friendly Information on the Internet.

In the article it states: "If you go to the AltaVista search engine and search for "Arbor Heights Elementary," you will get back 824 hits. But if you use the Net Shepherd family-friendly search engine, only three documents are returned. In other words, Net Shepherd blocks access to more than 99 percent of the material that would otherwise be available on AltaVista containing the search phrase "Arbor Heights Elementary.

The author(s) goes on to state that "similar results" were obtained with other searches and other content-blocking search engines. However, what the researches fail to mention is if one of the three documents returned from the Net Shepherd Family-friendly search engine was the Arbor Heights Elementary School's homepage. For me, this information is key. If one of the documents was the homepage, then this still opens the door to a wealth of information concerning Arbor Heights Elementary School. On the other hand, if the three hits are totally unrelated to Arbor heights Elementary School, then this is also a huge problem! For example, when the author(s) discuss the Survey of Miscellaneous Concepts and Entities, they state: "[O]ne of the eight documents that was produced by [Family Search] turned out to be a parody of a Dr. Seuss story using details from the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson."

Please don't get me wrong; I am not trying to play word games here. I believe this information is necessary to make a solid case for the research conducted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and I feel like this information could have easily been presented in the article.

Electronic Privacy Information Center. (1997). Faulty Filters: How Content Filters Block Access to Kid Friendly Information on the Internet.
http://epic.org/reports/filter_report.html

Intellectual Freedom Competencies for Students

In response to Dr. Moeller's podcast lecture for the week of May 13th, I decided to focus on her questions pertaining to the Intellectual Freedom Competencies for Students portion of the American Library Association (ALA) document, "Intellectual Freedom Core Competencies" for my first blog entry.

1. Are these reasonable assumptions to make?

Maybe a better word to use here would be "expectations." In other words: Are they reasonable expectations to make? To answer this question directly, Yes, I believe they are reasonable expectations to make. I will elaborate on this a bit further in question #4.

2. Where do you think technology fits?

I believe it is key for the student/librarian to understand that the Bill of Rights (especially the First and Fourth Amendments) are applicable as far as the rapidly changing world of technology is concerned too. For example, film, audio, video, computers, and the Amazon Kindle.

3. Do you agree with these competencies?

For the most part, I do agree with these competencies. In short, I think they are a good start. However, I believe they should be a part of a "living" document that will expand and grow in the future (as the need arises).

4. Are these competencies realistic to expect of library school students?

The short answer is, "Yes." Many of these competencies should have been developed along the "educational path" of most Americans. For example, one should have learned about the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in their jr. high/middle school government class. In addition, many of these other topics are discussed in other classes along the way, including U.S. history, political science, journalism, etc.

5. Does it reflect one political persuasion? If so, which one?

Since the ALA is a liberal organization, I would have to state that it does reflect a more democratic persuasion. However, I do not believe there is any direct political connection.

6. What would you add or eliminate to these competencies?

At this juncture, I would not eliminate anything. However, I do not particularly care for the wording of the third point:

III. The student knows about the history of intellectual freedom within the American Library Association. He or she understands key ALA policy documents related to intellectual freedom, and is aware of the responsibilities of professional librarians with regard to intellectual freedom.

Of course I support the ALA and its mission; however, the issue of intellectual freedom goes beyond the ALA. I would feel more comfortable with this wording:

The student knows about the history of intellectual freedom; he or she understands key policy documents related to intellectual freedom, and is aware of the responsibilities of professional librarians with regard to intellectual freedom.

A New Beginning

This is a public service announcement:

Until further notice, I will be using this space for my Seminar in Intellectual Freedom Class (S640).

This Is Not The End (#12)

Wow! Can you all believe it? The Spring 2008 semester is really coming to a close. As I type these words, my fellow classmates are busily, and in some cases frantically, adding the final touches to their wiki projects...and this...this is my last blog entry for S554. (You can all try to hide your true feelings, but my sixth sense is telling me that many of you are crying all over your keyboards as you read this!)

I have to admit I am a bit sad that this is my last entry as well, but in a much greater sense, I am relieved. You see, I am looking forward to that long week of rest and relaxation before I begin my summer-long internship at the university. Of course I also have my 40-hour-per-week job, that summer II cataloging class, and a million other chores to look forward to as well, but I digress.

In short, I have learned some new things in this class, met some nice people, and had some interesting experiences in S554, and for all of that I want to say a, "thank you" to Dr. Ball and to all of my colleagues and friends in VICland.

However, I do not view this as "The end." This is a new beginning. Good luck to you all and I hope to see you again soon!

VICtory Speech (#11)

Like a well-oiled military machine under the command of General George S. Patton, our team came together last Thursday evening to “attack” our wiki project head-on. Today, I proudly come before my fellow VIClanders to announce that we have met the enemy on the glorious field of battle, and we have emerged VICtorious!

(In the background, the band plays Happy Days Are Here Again as the crowd claps and cheers.)

It was not an easy struggle...but then again...nothing great ever comes easy; especially the making of a great resource wiki. It takes determination, hard work, and perseverance from a dedicated, intelligent group of people who come together to form a cohesive team and work for a greater, common cause. Our cause was to make the lives of the IU Southeast reference librarians easier, and we have succeeded in that mission.

(Chants of, VICtory! VICtory! VICtory! Echo from the crowd.)

Therefore, I would like to take this time to reassure those women who serve at the IU Southeast Library Reference Desk: Nancy, Gabrielle, Jackie, Benita, Phyllis, Melanie, and Maria that they will never have to wonder where to go if they need information concerning reference service policies, special collections, or reserves; the answers they seek are now safe, secure, and readily available. All they have to do is click here: http://iusreference.wikispaces.com/

God bless you all...and God bless VICland.

Netiquette (#10)

This week at work I was asked to write up something on network etiquette. For some strange reason my boss, who is also a professor of speech and communication studies at IU Southeast, seems to think that some people might not know the "proper" way to behave in an online classroom environment. He reasons that if they don't know how to act in a "one-on-one" situation, then they might really "turn loose" without face-to-face contact. I have to tell you, I was a little flabbergasted at this notion because I am always the same lovable, kind, caring, and considerate person no matter what situation I am in. However, I always aim to please so I did some online research and this is what I came up with:

At IU Southeast, we believe that proper behavior is just as important Online as it is in person. Here are a few guidelines to help you communicate more effectively in your online class(es):

1. Even though you are not face-to-face with classmates and instructors, you are still dealing with other people; act and write accordingly. Always treat your instructors and peers with respect and courtesy.
2. In cyberspace, the law and ethics are still applicable. Do not cheat, plagiarize the work of the others, or infringe upon copyrights. You are accountable for what you state and do online.
3. Please keep in mind that while your course may be online, you are still part of a classroom. Comments that are inappropriate in a regular classroom are inappropriate in an online environment; do not swear, make sexist, racist, or homophobic comments, or practice flaming (posting hostile/hurtful messages with the intent of inciting others.)
4. Remember, time is a valuable commodity for everyone; try to keep your messages brief, to the point, and avoid repetition.
5. Learn to write right; that means know your subject and think before you type anything, and by all means proofread, edit, and use spell check before you click on the Send or Submit button.
6. Avoid using acronyms and emoticons. Your online postings, no matter the length, are official course communications and should be treated as such—be professional.
7. Protect your privacy. Do not e-mail or post any information you do not want others to know; this includes your passphrase, your telephone number, your personal e-mail address, your home address, and your Social Security number.
8. Forgive; people will make mistakes along the way, but we will all have a much more enriching and enjoyable educational experience if we learn to forgive and forget the honest mistakes made by others.
9. Don’t take matters into your own hands. If you experience a technical problem or problems with the course work, or if you have a question, please bring it to your instructor’s attention immediately.
10. Increase the knowledge of the IU Southeast online community and share what you know. Everyone is here to learn; speak up!

FYI: If any of you are interested in seeing the finalized version of my online aptitude survey, it is now active: http://www.ius.edu/onlinecourses/survey.cfm

Have a great weekend!
Michael