A long while back there was a human interest story with an eye catching title “Check out a lesbian!” or som such. The idea was to explore the idea of predjudices by having a conversation with someone in a group you maybe didn’t know anyone in. The object, at some level, to be realizing we’re all people, expanding your horizons, etc. I had forgotten about it until recently until Ben Ropp sent me an email asking about it. Looks like the program, HUMAN Library, now has a nice website with a lot of extra “how to” information and some example libraries (and a longer list) worldwide that have tried it. I’m happy to see this project still going strong.
Top ten lists in librarians book of lists
It’s always nice when you have a secret bright idea and never do anything about it and then see someone you know and respect doing something totally awesome with it. I grew up in the 70s when the Book of Lists books were all the rage and I loved them. I’d always liked the idea of doing a librarian’s book of lists. And now George Eberhart – also the author of The Guide to Cryptozoology – has done just that! Announced in American Libraries: the top ten lists in the librarian’s book of lists. Hooray!
update on four year old post
I mentioned, back in 2006, the case of Scott Savage vs Ohio State University. Inside Higher Ed has a post about the results of Savage’s lawsuit against the university. Upshot, “a federal judge rejected a former librarian’s lawsuit against the university.” [pdf of decision]. Depending on how you lean in this case, this is either terrific or troubling news (or possibly both) but it’s been interesting to read various reporting about it to see how it’s represented. I think my favorite analysis occurs in a comment on the site.
The headline seems to be “conservative academic forced out for Christian views” ( the headline on Horowitz’s FrontPage, for example, is “Savage Injustice” ) but the story is nothing of the sort. As much as the right wants to depict our colleges and universities as dominated by leftists and radicals the truth is that complaints against Savage were dismissed, he was backed by his supervisors and his position was secure. The headline should have been “University protects conservative academic’s right to express Christian views” because those are the facts of the case, which have been known from the beginning and which have now been established by a court of law.
UC’s polite Nature Publishing Group boycott request
The Awl reports:
Dear Members of the UCLA Faculty,
Please see the attached document regarding a possible boycott of Nature Publishing Group journals by UC faculty. We urge you to read this important update, which has been jointly prepared by the University Libraries and the University Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication. Please contact me directly with your comments and concerns.
Sincerely,
Gary E. Strong
UCLA University Librarian
[via the infodiva]
interviewed over at UNT
The University of North Texas Library & Information Sciences Student Association has a little blog where they interview library professionals as a resource for students to learn more about the world of work. I answered a few questions for them over there.