WORK: GSISC 18 #gsisc18 How do gender and sexuality WORK in library and information studies? Gender and sexuality play various roles in the production, organization, dissemination, and consumption of information of all kinds. As categories of social identity, they do not act alone but in interaction and intersection with race, class, nation, language, ability and … Read more CFP: GSISC18: Work
Editors: Erik Estep and Nathaniel Enright Price: $28.00 Published: July 2016 ISBN: 978-1-936117-74-1 Printed on acid-free paper 186 pages The current crisis of capitalism has led to the renewed interest in Marxism and its core categories of analysis such as class and exploitation. In our own discipline — Library and Information Science — voices and … Read more Class and Librarianship: Essays at the Intersection of Information, Labor and Capital
In Solidarity: Academic Librarian Labour Activism and Union Participation in Canada Editors: Jennifer Dekker and Mary Kandiuk Price: $40.00 Published: October 2014 ISBN: 978-1-936117-62-8 With a focus on Canada, this collection provides a historical and current perspective regarding the unionization of academic librarians, an exploration of some of the major labour issues affecting academic librarians … Read more In Solidarity: Academic Librarian Labour Activism and Union Participation in Canada
Jeremy McGinniss is the Library Director at Baptist Bible College and Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennyslvania. He is the instructor for the Library Juice Academy offered next month on Student Staff Development. Jeremy agreed to an interview to give people more of an idea of the content of this course and his background as the … Read more Interview with Jeremy McGinniss
I was going to call this post, “Gripes of a Vendor,” but then I checked on the author, Rick Anderson, and found that he is not a member of the publishing community but a member of the library community. His post is in The Scholarly Kitchen, the blog of the Society of Scholarly Publishing, and … Read more Gripes of a Dean
Call for Papers for Forthcoming Book: In Solidarity: Academic Librarian Labour Activism and Union Participation in Canada EDITORS: Jennifer Dekker, University of Ottawa (jdekker@uottawa.ca) Mary Kandiuk, York University (mkandiuk@yorku.ca) PUBLISHER: Library Juice Press EXPECTED PUBLICATION DATE: 2014 BOOK ABSTRACT: With a focus on Canada, this collection will document the labour-related struggles and gains of academic … Read more Call for Papers for Forthcoming Book: In Solidarity: Academic Librarian Labour Activism and Union Participation in Canada
I liked this post from Hack Library School, written by Amy Frasier: “Whither Reference?” Amy notes with alarm that reference isn’t being taught as a standalone class at her library school. I want to note for the benefit of more senior and cynical readers that this is a current library student who is concerned about … Read more So who exactly is ruling that “reference is dead”?
Robin Pogrebin has an article in the New York Times from Wednesday, titled, Former Employees Feel Silenced on Library Project. They don’t just “feel” silenced though. First two paragraphs: The New York Public Library’s plan to turn part of its flagship Fifth Avenue research center into a lending library has unleashed a torrent of commentary, … Read more Former NYPL employees silenced by non-disparagement agreement
I spent the better part of Wednesday at VuStuff II, a small regional gathering hosted by Villanova University’s Falvey Memorial Library, which focused on the intersection of technology and scholarly communication in libraries. The attendees were an interesting mix of people from academic and special libraries, and included library directors, archivists, systems librarians, special collections … Read more Thoughts on VuStuff II
The Long Island University Faculty Federation is on strike. Librarians are included. Information is available at the LIU Faculty Federation home page.
University of Western Ontario Librarians are on strike. (Link goes to recent news from the Faculty Association.) From the press release announcing the strike: “It is with great regret that we make this decision,” said Bryce Traister, UWOFA President. “We simply haven’t seen enough movement on the key issues important to our members. We find … Read more University of Western Ontario Librarians On Strike
McMaster University Librarian Jeff Trzeciak’s recently revealed in a talk at Penn State that he plans not to hire librarians in the future at his library, setting off a firestorm in Canada. (He said that he plans not to hire MLS holding librarians for professional positions but people with PhD’s in other fields instead.) The … Read more University of Alberta PLG on McMaster University Librarian Jeff Trzeciak’s rather open comments
No comment on this other than to say that Koofers is incredibly slimy, and it rankles me that they seem to be getting some tacit support from legitimate institutions. Here is a post by my friend Nicole Pagowsky on how Koofers ripped off one of her student papers and posted it to their for-profit site … Read more Koofers – stealing students’ work to help other students cheat
Folks at the Progressive Librarians Guild have put the full text of back issues of their journal, Progressive Librarian, online. Coverage goes back to issue number one, from 1990. I was on the editorial board of Progressive Librarian for a number of years, and consider them an important venue for library literature that works to … Read more Progressive Librarian in full text
I want to suggest a possible strategy for reference departments in academic libraries. I think a lot of library administrators who have an eye on the future see less of a role for reference, at least in the way we currently understand it. As they see it, it seems to me, it’s a waste of … Read more The “assessment piece” and reference strategy
I have an article in the current issue of Progressive Librarian that I have put online this morning: “The Library Paraprofessional Movement and the Deprofessionalization of Librarianship.” It says something that some people won’t like, but it’s something that I think is true and something that I think we should discuss openly. It’s in the … Read more The Library Paraprofessional Movement and the Deprofessionalization of Librarianship
Colonel Morris Davis was fired from his job at the Congressional Research Service for opinion pieces he wrote about the military commissions system (he is the former chief prosecutor for the Guantánamo military commissions). The ACLU is suing the Library of Congress on his behalf in this free-speech case. This is the second time recently … Read more ACLU sues Library of Congress in workplace speech case
Press release: London, ON Unionized librarians and archivists at the University of Western Ontario have voted overwhelmingly to support strike action to back their bargaining goals of fair evaluations, job security and equitable salaries and benefits. A total of 88% of UWOFA-LA members voted in favour of authorizing their union to call a strike. The … Read more Strike at University of Western Ontario Libraries
Just want to alert you to this article by John Buschman in Academe, the magazine of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors): “Who Defends Intellectual Freedom for Librarians? The ALA should defend librarians as the AAUP defends faculty members.”
The following obituary for Franklin Rosemont was written by Séamas Cain, a writer I know here in the Duluth, Minnesota area. Franklin Rosemont, surrealist poet, artist, historian, street speaker, & labor activist, died of an aneurysm on Sunday, April 12th in Chicago, Illinois. He was 65 years old. With his partner & comrade, Penelope Rosemont, … Read more Franklin Rosemont has passed on