Library Visit Comparison

Library Visit Information Sheet		Fall 2007
Comparison of two dissimilar library's which have similar issues and strong regional presence. Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library University of Michigan Special Collections and the Rochester Hills Public Library			LIS 6010 Intro to Libraries course

 

 

Table of Contents

Comparison Chart of Two Libraries    3

Name of Library    3

URL    3

What I learned from the websites    3

Type of library    3

Primary Interview    3

Why I chose these libraries to interview    3

Clientele    4

Staff    4

Administration    5

Departments within the library    5

Any services outsourced    7

Facilities    7

Funding Sources    8

Is this library in a consortia or network    8

Current challenges or problems facing their library or libraries in general?    8

2-3 paragraphs on what I learned doing this assignment    8

How something similar to the Library Visit Assignment might be a useful interviewing tool for the future.    9

 

 

Comparison Chart of Two Libraries
Name of Library	Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library University of Michigan Special Collections	Rochester Hills Public Library
URL	http://www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll/	http://rhpl.org/
What I learned from the websites	The Library has 8 collections, and a superior Finding Aids facility [example of Marge Piercy finding aid] : http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=sclead&idno=umich-scl-piercy They have an extensive online visual treasure trove of photographs and information with accurate detailed information of period photographs, retrieval information and views of period publications, flyers, posters. Their book collection is 2.5 million 10K digital. Their book, serials, ancient and modern manuscripts, posters, playbills, photographs, pamphlets are internationally recognized. Their book room is one of the earliest in the US. It is a primary basis of research for scholars around the world. They have a huge Anarchist collection which is part of Labadie later I would find out that it is their most popular collection.	The Friends of the Library has a huge presence on the website. RHPL cardholders have 24/7 access to premium research databases, reference e-books and an impressive a/v collection. ChiltonLibrary.com has auto repair help; LearningExpressLibrary has practice tests from Nursing to Cosmetology, Real Estate to SAT prep. There is more like this but essentially any resource that a person would want to find a job, get self help health advice, study for certifications in many areas is available to their clientele. They have an online newsletter that gives info on Library and community happenings. They have long hours and are open the big three Fri, Sat, and Sun. Video game days, Graphic Novel book club, bookmobile, English Language skill center. Large Print, Book Discussion kits, disability resources, interpreters, homebound programs, proctor exams and MORE. I also found out who the best person to interview would be based on my interests via the online reference section. I also found out that I can check books out based on my Dearborn Heights Library card, but could not use the online audio/visual (a/v) check out as it was only for Oakland County residents.
Type of library	Special Academic	Public Independent Class 6
Primary Interview	Peggy Daub Director, Special Collections Library Kathryn Beam, Curator of the Humanities Collection	Sharon Campbell, Head of Adult Services
Why I chose these libraries to interview	Interest in Marge Piercy and my personal interest in Literature especially how the writing process is done. I am planning to go back in order to review Marge Piercy documents after break. It was interesting to see how collections are handled within the library, which is expanding the role of technical services.	Size of the Library, amount of technical services jobs available and it seemed to be the closest in scope as a Public Library can get to the U of M library.   Note: For both the ability to obtain interviews from people whose jobs I found interesting was the main factor.
Primary Clientele	University Undergrads during regular School year lots of studies with Labadie collection.	Rochester Hills, Rochester, and Oakland County, 15K per day in library. Online about
Secondary Clientele	Professors mainly during summers. Tours of Exhibits. New exhibit on how the bible came to be in English thousands come to these tours.	Anyone within consortiums that they are a part of. Troy and Southfield.
Special   Clientele	Second most popular are people interested in General Rare book collection Conduct special classes in reading room on request of professors depending on area of interest. The tour that I received was a one from each collection tour in reading room, which is a microcosm of what they offer.	Huge Large Print collection, special computers for visually impaired. Outreach section specifically for challenged clientele. Cater to various languages spoken within community in A/v, movies, books and translators available for reference questions.
Staff	12 Staff from other divisions cooperate with this staff (talked with map Librarian). Talked with one of the support staff. Not a lot of staff milling about.	City employees 150 some salaried, some non salaried. Technical pages and pages. Have a huge wall that is mailbox for staff. Lockers/locker rooms, staff lounges with vending machines. Talked with librarians in each dept (was given a personal tour). Talked with ref librarian over the phone.
Professional Staff	7 Heads of departments have two Master degrees. Literature is a good secondary degree; look at what each department consists of to get an idea of what types of degrees. Philosophy, History. Kathryn's is in Medieval Literature. Cataloger/Professional Archive processor for finding aids/Rough draft in metadata archives accessioning of metadata. Uses archival standard for archival practices. Mentioned section was down and Peggy Daub had it running by the time of our interview.	About 50 Head IT person is Librarian Librarians work on website with IT dept. Sharon Campbell has a lot of input into website.
Non-professional Staff	5 (They have volunteers also not included in this) Will accept volunteers with a plan of work.	Hundreds of volunteer hours per year, especially from Friends of the Library who has a gift shop inside Library?
Technicians	No difference between professional and technicians.	Only the Head of IT is a Librarian, they have a group of IT personnel.
Administration	Head of Departments, Director	Director, bookkeeper, graphics (create print materials), IT
Administrative Structure	All Librarians report to Peggy Daub/each Para pro reports to Head of Dept they are working in	Highest to lowest: Board of Trustees/Director/Head of each Department within Library/Staff to Head of Departments
Reporting authority	She reports directly to the Association University Librarian for Public Services Brenda Johnson via meetings.	Reports directly to the Director of the Library via Meetings
Software for communicating?	Email, Merlin reports on Word, Excel, publications in PageMaker just switched to In Design. "We talk to each other, no im because we all see each other and physically talk" Daub	Email, Graphics department takes care of publications.
Departments within the library	Tactical processing people. "Not really everyone needs to know what is going on." Labadie Collection is considered separate.	Outreach, Adult Services, Youth Services, Teen Services, reference, circulation, Ill, Administration, IT, Technical services.
Public	Children's Literature Collection Humanities Papyrology Transportation History Social Sciences Science and Technology Power Collection Labadie Collection	Outreach, Adult Services, Youth Services, Teen Services, reference, circulation, Ill,
Nonpublic	Administrative	Administrative, IT, Most of Circulation, Graphics, Technical Services.
Branches	No	No
Special collections	(see Public) Best Collection of Robinson Crusoe editions in the Children's Collection. "Lots of pockets of excellence" (Daub). Reflects things that are movements against standard politics—radicalism. Radical political parties, radical green parties in Europe, Woman's rights movements, Gay liberation, Free love movements. Campus unrest in the 60s.	World Cinema DVDS (rotate them from library to library). Have joint ventures with Metro-Net. Youth services met bi-monthly
Noted	Labadie Collection, worldwide renown	Received Gale award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services
Non-print collections	Transportation artwork portrays transportation history but has stellar art. Huge photographs of rare scenes in the west. Currier and Ives Paintings Pierce Arrow Automobiles original Paintings.	Audio books, including play-a-longs, DVDs, CDs, VHS, web databases (see what I learned from website)
Types of services offered at this library	"In person service is the biggest one. People have to come here to see things. The reading room is the connection between staff and users; everything feeds into acquiring materials and surrogates finding aid records. Other services are courses that the staff teaches within the Library. One class period is open to professors to see editions of whatever they want to talk about using special materials. It is a one shot course where they can see rare materials or instruction." (Daub) Papers gathered that support course using special collections. They are not purchasing anything online so have no eBooks and no goals for it. Peggy Daub stresses the importance of seeing a collection in person as opposed to online. "The impact something makes when you see the historic object in person instead of a replica of it, it is not the same as seeing it online." Labadie is more content oriented than physicality oriented, still "there is something about seeing the thing published by the people in the 1960s. Such as the Martin Luther King letter he wrote in the Birmingham jail. What it felt like and looked like to original readers. You can find the text online, it's not the text, it is seeing what the illustration looked like" (Daub)	Job resources endeavor, help with job transitions. Series of programs and Speakers. 10 minute library carts to nursing homes Kits for day care providers/Kits for book club discussion groups Adult services special area for Fiction and Entertainment new releases and popular releases that have a one week check out policy. Surveyed community and carry international language magazine, a/v, DVD, book collection accordingly. Computer facilities in each department, with filters set according to age group. Play-a-ways Huge audio collection Local History Room Study rooms Reading corrals Internet Access, wireless and connections at each reading corral, computers and computer connection available in each area. Gaming computer areas for gaming. Reference Desk Drive through book loan Extensive Database service
ILL	No	ILL has 4 part time staff and needs 40. Mel cat area was stacked with items to go out. Try for a one day turn around but sometimes has to be two due to staffing.
Programming	Exhibits, conduct tours by request must schedule appointment.	(See what I learned from website, also special services). Currently focus is on the World cinema project (see also consortiums)
Any usage restrictions	Closed Collections, need to use them in reading room. Should request in advance giving range of collection and materials desired. Nice thing is that this material has been tagged and is accessible. Use finding aids online and request the appropriate material one wish to study and voile` it is there ready to be studied!	Within service area full access, can check out anything available for checkout. (references restricted to in library use) TLN and Michicard are Print only, no a/v check out and no online resources or online subscriptions. The materials have from 7 to 56 day loan periods (mainly 21 day), with 0 to 3 (mainly 1) and varies (ILL), renewal policies.
Any fees assessed	no	Anime, Book discussion kits,DVDs,Hooked on Phonics, Interlibrary loan items, leap Pad, Story-time kits,VHS Tapes, Video Games are assessed $1 per day late fee. All else are $.15 per day.
Any services outsourced	Within library all books and serials are cataloged in another unit The cataloging staff is within the University but outside of this department Acquisitions and payments done in acquisitions or business department and are not counted in their staff. They do a lot for them and are not considered part of their budget.	Processing of new materials.
Facilities	Entire 7th floor. The Buhr building. 700 boxes are being stored at Bentley because they ran out of space. Bentley is letting them use the space. Amazingly despite their huge online presence Peggy Daub stated that "1% of collection is online to view", there are plans to put more online but it takes time. 2,5 million books 10,000 journals	66,000 square feet. Bookmobile covers all of Oakland Twp. No storage. 210,000 books; 40,000 A/v; 400 magazines; enclosed areas for children's, computers, outreach, community history collection, conference rooms, offices on each floor, gift shop, coffee and treat kiosk. Huge circ desk, huge reference section upstairs (just downsized to make room for large manga/anime collection in teen services area which expanded into it). Multi-purpose rooms. Internet usage about 12,500k per month (in facilities)
Computer Filtering	N/A	Outreach Level 1 filtering Youth-higher level of filtering Child highest Adult services no filtering for anyone over 18.
Funding Sources	University provides the majority of the funding. Also receive collections as gifts, trust funds used as well. Some staff are paid on trust funds all other staff members are paid with regular state funds. These trusts came 70-80 years ago and what is used is the interest.	Library Established in 1924, they were never connected to government. Main mileage and support is Rochester Hills, they have contracts with Rochester Twp. And other libraries within Oakland County. Friends of the Library. Gifts to Library (original illustrations donated in memory of, on walls in children's section,, statues on display on grounds as well as in library) Local businesses (affiliated with local bookstores) example: currently they have a Christmas tree display; materials donated by local businesses, decorated by staff and patrons, and will be auctioned off for outreach services.
Is this library in a consortia or network	University Library OCLC Michigan Library Association CIC Committee Institute of Chicago Big 10 Univ of Illinois etc. Big schools of Midwest.	Metro-net (group of 8 libraries pay for internet access come together for other projects) TLN (large group co-op SE MI is a part of it mainly as a service to deliver materials. Smaller libraries depend on them for cataloging etc.), Michicard, Mel cat. OCLC does cataloging from z39. free
Current challenges or problems facing their library or libraries in general?	Digitization. Day to day concerns, crowded conditions. Not enough staff. Not enough space.	"As a librarian—just keeping up with new things that represent publics' wants and needs. Library funding is Director's worry but keeping up with new technology increases training in those things. Everything increases but funding doesn't end."

[Note 1 Black designates Main topic/ Rose designates subtopic / purple designates topic under subtopic / Blue is all other].

Note 2: All information from sheet comes primarily from primary interview, then from website, then from literature picked up at institution, then from talking with people around libraries].

2-3 paragraphs on what I learned doing this assignment

 

There are a lot of interesting job possibilities within libraries and that libraries are extremely diverse. I feel a lot more confident after going to the public library because technical expertise is highly regarded. Libraries face similar challenges that small businesses face as far as funding, staffing, and inexpensive ways to advertise themselves, specialized clientele and frustrations with keeping up with technology. Class 6 public libraries are fantastic and worth considering moving to a community based on the services of a library like Rochester Hills Public Library. It was surprising to see how many ways libraries are funded, and that community funded libraries can be as large as RHPL is. The staffs of both RHPL and HHGL are stable, there is not much overturn, and it would be worthwhile pursuing employment in an institution like this. The people that were interviewed were very proud to be working at the libraries they were in, and eager to be helpful. The personal tour at RHPL was not expected but very fun and interesting. The interoffice memo mailboxes were a very efficient way to accurately deliver information in RHPL. The tour at HHGL was intense, as the works presented were undeniably rich representations of the various divisions within the archives. Touching the first edition Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman inscribed to Ralph Waldo Emerson was an emotional moment.

I was surprised at how accessible the information is at HHGL and plan on developing a research strategy to pore through some of the Marge Piercy documentation. It has given me an interest in pursuing an archival certificate after graduation. All in all what I learned is successful librarians are helpful, knowledgeable, constantly learning and growing with funding pressures and increased family pressures as they age.

The extent of the online collections was refreshing and hours were spent on the HHGL site poring over old photographs and beginning research into what specifically will help as Marge Piercy is researched. RHPL website was well-maintained and interesting, their newsletter was informative. Information was easy to access and their databases are enviable.

New to the MLIS program, Information Science is what my primary interest is, indexing and retrieval methods are directions that I have been moving towards. Continued visitation of HHGL will give me a greater insight into how researchers use finding aids, and what types of data would be most desirable for me as I continue on this new career path.

How something similar to the Library Visit Assignment might be a useful interviewing tool for the future.

Briefly, what I found useful was comparing the two columns and seeing the diverse answers which are perfectly accurate for each institution but do not necessary match each other. It gives a better insight into how different these institutions are to each other even though in scope to their clientele they are similar. Closed shelves are able to manage greater collections than Open shelves is one example. 2.5 million Books managed in closed shelving with 12 employees and volunteers, 210k worth of books managed in open shelving with 150 employees and volunteers.

Censorship Type: conformity

I thought the issue of presenting same sex couples as sexually explicit interesting. Censorship has historically been a way for people to conform to one viewpoint. Where have we fallen into the belief system of female being servile, passive, submissive before? Studying ways in which societies have suppressed individual expression in identifiable groups goes a long way to our understanding of what people face in other cultures. If I say my son cannot be gay, because it is against god's laws (which I would not do) but it would remind me of a time when races were taught inside fundamentalist institutions as mandated by God to be separate. Similarly to how race was viewed as inferior by those who chose to believe it. Almost everything can take on sinister qualities if minds are allowed to work overtime without being checked or educated.

By controlling comic books, France sought to control

the development of the character of its young and, by extension,

culturally reassert a specifically French national identity emphasizing

community, social and civic responsibility, rational progress, morality,

and integrity (Jobs, 2003).

 

The point could be made also of the lack of balancing materials or filtering , which is another type of control. Richard I. Jobs, scholar, continues in his Journal Article Tarzan Under Attack:

Either a woman was depicted as a point of struggle between

men or as ''a superwoman who fights against men, with cruelty and an

absence of feminine sensibility.'' Moreover, ''mothers and wives do not

really exist'' in the comic book universe, a deficiency that ''is particularly

grave'' for girls…commission conceived its duty to be that of maintaining and normalizing

the social order for young people. (Jobs, 2003)

 

 

Bibliography:

 

Barack, L. (2006). AL Lawmaker to Ban Pro-Gay Books School Library Journal 51 no1 24 Ja 2005. Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from Wilson Web : http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/hww/results/results_fulltext_maincontentframe.jhtml;hwwilsonid=KNFQHJ2BMX5UXQA3DILSFGOADUNGKIV0

Edwards, L. (2000, Apr). JSTOR Modern China, Vol. 26, No. 2. (Apr., 2000), pp. 115-147. Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from Policing the Modern Woman in Republican China: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0097-7004%28200004%2926%3A2%3C115%3APTMWIR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F

Jobs, R. I. (2003). Tarzan under Attack: Youth, Comics, and Cultural Reconstruction in Postwar France . Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from French Historical Studies 26.4 (2003) 687-725 : http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/journals/french_historical_studies/v026/26.4jobs.html

 

 

 

Censorship Type: Fear

One of the most interesting things that I found in studying banned books in the 80s was the Holt Basic Reading Series by Holt, Rineholt, and Winston. It is explained in detail on pages 141-147 of Margaret Bald's Revised Banned Book: Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds Revised Version. It was not mentioned in her first Book of the same title. It is notable because it proved the strength of religious groups banning together(the case lasted 4 years), that keeping a company in litigation is all that is necessary for victory(the company finally had to sell, and the new company cancelled the series with no reprints), and how far will Americans go to ameliorate religious beliefs? [the case started with Vicki Frost, a mother of four who believed that the Antichrist would be telepathic(Bald, pg 146)]. Imagination was also attacked, Jack London's "To Build a Fire," in the eighth grade reader, the protagonists use of imagination to solve a problem "contradicted the groups belief that absolute reliance on God is necessary for salvation(Bald, pg. 146.)

This report issued in the 80s perhaps sums it up:

 

The report, titled ''Liberty Denied: The Current Rise of Censorship,'' is written by Donna A. Demac, a lawyer and professor of communications at New York University.

Among the lawyers whose writings are used as evidence in the report are Martin Garbus, author of ''Traitors and Heroes,'' and Floyd Abrams. Mr. Abrams is quoted as saying that the Reagan Administration has ''trumped'' the First Amendment, explaining that ''whatever it chose to do on the pretext of national security took precedence over competing constitutional considerations.''

After declaring that censorship has increased during the Reagan Administration, the report concludes:

''Today the United States faces the significant challenge of restoring the traditions of free speech and diversity of information that have been eroded in the 1980's. It would be a tragic mistake to think that censorship in the country will automatically fade away with the next Presidential election.'' (MITGANG, June 5, 1988, Sunday, Late City Final Edition)

 

Bibliography

Bald, M. (1998). Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds. New York: Facts on File, Inc.

Bald, M. (2006). Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc.

Bernard J. Weiss, ed. (1973). Holt Basic Reading Series. United States: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

MITGANG, H. (June 5, 1988, Sunday, Late City Final Edition). PEN Issues Warning on Censorship. http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/us/lnacademic/auth/checkbrowser.do?ipcounter=1&cookieState=0&rand=0.6686893552717349&bhcp=1: The New York Times.

Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis: The Story of Childhood. New York City: Pantheon Books.

Sova, D. B. (1998). Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds. New York: Facts On File, Inc.

 

 

 

Censorship type: Suppression

Population increases, increase the amount of people who are able to organize, form coalitions, and strongly assert their opinion. If that opinion is at the expense of another person's freedom to express so be it. Children are at the crux of this issue, children who are to be molded in their parent's image. Perhaps the new focus is how much of an influence should a parent have on a young person's life. When does the young person have the right to be who they are?

Just because my parents are fundamentalists does not mean that I want to become a fundamentalist. Family pressures, pressures within the social group, and societal pressure to be a good child all contribute to the inability for a person to find the freedom of expression that can be uniquely theirs. This is why public education both in the libraries as well as in the school systems should present all points of view. It is not intended to kow-tow to a family's norm. The ability of a child to receive an education apart from their family unit is one reason why we are a democratic nation. We allow children a cultural and religious diversity, hopefully with multiple sides engaged so that the child America's child can grow up thinking.

In Bonnie Ericson's Journal article she gives an interesting perspective of an educator who saw the rise of censorship, her article deals with an educator's responsibility in the growing climate of censorship as well as underscores the importance of thinking:

Robert Cormier prods us to consider the price paid by students when books are challenged or teachers and publishers practice self-censorship. His response to censorship is a call to all authors to continue to write "honestly with all the craft that can be summoned...to illuminate as well as to entertain...

and

to challenge the intellect and engage the heart" (72) (Ericson, 1996)

Bibliography:

Ann K. Symons, A. P. (1998, Fall). PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 63 No.1Keynote: Read! Learn! Connect!--@ the Library. Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from Pacific Northwest Library Association: http://www.pnla.org/quart/f98/read.htm

Ericson, B. (1996). The censorship crisis. The English Journal(High school edition). Urbana: Jan. Vol. 85, Iss. 1; pg. 79 , http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/pqdlink?Ver=1&Exp=10-13-2012&FMT=7&DID=9204262&RQT=309.

Random House. (2007, Oct 15). CENSORSHIP: AN EDUCATOR'S GUIDE. Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from Random House: http://www.randomhouse.com/highschool/resources/guides3/censorship.html

 

Censorship type: Misunderstanding of terms

Animal Farm continued to be banned throughout the decades. According to the Encyclopedia of Censorship, Animal Farm is one of the "most often" censored books. The New York State English Council's Committee on Defenses Against Censorship found Animal Farm high on its list of "problem books" because "Orwell was a communist." (Nicholas J. Karolides, 1999)

George Orwell in the preface to the Signet Classics 29^th edition (August 6, 1954), wrote "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly against totalitarianism…Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried, with full consciousness…,to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole." (Nicholas J. Karolides, 1999)

When people have lost meanings : the meaning of political systems, the meaning of history and why it is important, the meaning of racism and why it's history is important, the meaning of religious freedom and understanding it's history and why keeping state from religion is important , then we will continue to have banned books.

 

 

Nicholas J. Karolides, M. B. (1999). 100 Banned Books. New York: Checkmark Books.

Bibliography

Chinaski, B. (2007, Sept 18). Animal Farm. Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from Banned Books Library: http://bannedbookslibrary.blogspot.com/2007/09/animal-farm.html

Nicholas J. Karolides, M. B. (1999). 100 Banned Books. New York: Checkmark Books.

 

 

 

Censorship type: Filtering

The banning or filtering of Huckleberry Finn destroys the meaning behind the author's work and eliminates a historically accurate type. Let's say that we eliminate all history of evident racism in the histories of the U.S. except that this leader and that leader or that leader helped lead blacks to freedom. Filtered literature undermines the struggles people actually lived under that needed to be overcome.

Filtering happens constantly, American Indians history of enslavement, population purges, nomadic misrepresentation, and repression of economic success by destruction of any record that they lived or owned the property they lived on or did business from.

The important idea when presenting a work of literature that has stereotypes is in a societies ability to disseminate accurate information, that will allow a person to extrapolate meaning. The issue of censorship is not going to go away, but a deeper understanding of the literature that is under attack is the strength that censorship gives to the population.

Gregory, L. (1998, Jan 13). Finding Jim Behind the Mask:The Revelation of African American Humanity in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from Ampersand: http://itech.fgcu.edu/&/issues/vol1/issue1/huckfinn.htm

Loen, J. W. (1996). Lies my Teacher told Me: Everything Your History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone.

Random House. (2007, Oct 15). CENSORSHIP: AN EDUCATOR'S GUIDE. Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from Random House: http://www.randomhouse.com/highschool/resources/guides3/censorship.html

 

Google Project Questions

I agree that Librarians 'hold rights for people'. Librarians are trained to understand the privacy issues of the client. What happens to a patron's privacy when someone untrained in librarianship is checking out their books? Along this issue is the abdication by libraries of how information is "copied" and tagged for later retrieval. The Google project, which seems so wondrous, is actually much more complex. Siva Vaidhyanathan has been debating the issue in his blogs. Who controls the Access points of information as well as what parts of the information is copied controls the meaning of the materials. Libraries should step up to the plate and begin speaking out, after all Access points, freedom of speech, understanding how filtering is the same as censorship are really the Librarian's prevue.

 

Bibliography:

Brito, J. (2005, Nov 28). Vaidhyanathan on Google Print. Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from The Technological Liberation Front : http://www.techliberation.com/archives/027245.php

Fister, B. (2005, Nov 29). Siva Vaidhyanathan on Outsourcing Risk. Retrieved Oct 14, 2007, from ACRLog: http://acrlblog.org/2005/11/29/siva-vaidhyanathan-on-outsourcing-risk/

Vaidhyanathan, S. (2006, Feb 7). Madison and Vaidhyanathan on the U Mich President's Google Speech. Retrieved Oct 15, 2007, from Sivacracy.net: http://www.sivacracy.net/2006/02/madison_and_vaidhyanathan_on_t.html