What about the iceberg?
by Emily Drabinski I spend a lot of time in critical librarian spaces. I am an active tweeter in the #critlib community. I’m organizing a colloquium on critical perspectives on … Read more What about the iceberg?
Category: Essays
Hedgehog Review – Spring issue focuses on information overload…
Focusing on the theme of “Too Much Information,” the spring issue of The Hedgehog Review devotes five essays to a close examination of the unprecedented and ever-increasing availability, use, and … Read more Hedgehog Review – Spring issue focuses on information overload…
Among the Disrupted (NYT Book Review Essay)
Among the Disrupted By Leon Wieseltier JAN. 7, 2015 New York Times Book Review Amid the bacchanal of disruption, let us pause to honor the disrupted. The streets of American … Read more Among the Disrupted (NYT Book Review Essay)
Inland Editions
Inland Editions is a new publisher out of London that is particularly interested in libraries. They are preparing to publish their first book, which appears to be a beautifully designed … Read more Inland Editions
Voltaire and Islam
Malise Ruthven, frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, wrote the preface to the recent Litwin Books publication, Voltaire’s Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet: A New Translation. His … Read more Voltaire and Islam
Political Identities
In a Library Juice blog post some time ago, Rory Litwin recommended an essay by Karl Mannheim entitled “Conservative Thought.” In the essay, Mannheim argues that political groupings can be … Read more Political Identities
Karl Mannheim on “conservative thought”
I ran across this essay by Karl Mannheim while looking into ideas on “styles of thought” in relation to philosophy and politics. Mannheim was one of the founders of the … Read more Karl Mannheim on “conservative thought”
Repressive Tolerance (link to essay by Marcuse) and a comment on information literacy
For those who have noted, along with Jon Stewart, that in the Fox News era the media treats facts in a relative way, as a matter of political taste… This … Read more Repressive Tolerance (link to essay by Marcuse) and a comment on information literacy
My problem with Banned Books Week
Some of my colleagues in the Progressive Librarians Guild used to complain that Banned Books Week was an unfortunate distraction from the greater problem of a propagandistic media system. I … Read more My problem with Banned Books Week
Some links for you…
I haven’t been posting much, but I do have some links to share: By Steve Coll, in the New York Review of Books: The Internet: For Better or for Worse, … Read more Some links for you…
Good summary of librarians’ discussion of Wikileaks to date
I recommend a post by James Jacobs on the freegovinfo.info site and the comments following it for a good summary of the debate over Wikileaks within the library community.
Adam Gopnik on books about the internet age
Adam Gopnik, frequent contributor to the New Yorker, has an article in the new issue called, “The Information: How the Internet Gets Inside Us.” It’s actually a really good bibliographic … Read more Adam Gopnik on books about the internet age
Progressive Librarian in full text
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 … Read more Progressive Librarian in full text
Library, Inc. (Chronicle Review)
“Library, Inc., by David Goldstein, in the new Chronicle Review, begins: From industry-backed research to CEO-style executive salaries and perquisites, the influence of corporate America on universities has been the … Read more Library, Inc. (Chronicle Review)
Inaccuracy in Adbusters article
I am not going to spend a lot of time on this, but I want to point out an inaccuracy in an article on the Adbuster’s website (and maybe in … Read more Inaccuracy in Adbusters article
Organizing personal info in an age of change: Tickets to a Pavement concert
An item in the New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town” section in the last issue is about the difficulty of keeping track of a valuable information object over time: a … Read more Organizing personal info in an age of change: Tickets to a Pavement concert
New issue of Information for Social Change
There is a new issue of Information for Social Change, on the theme of information ethics. This issue is edited by Mikael Böök. It’s a very international collection of articles, … Read more New issue of Information for Social Change
Jaron Lanier Op-Ed on AI
Jaron Lanier has an Op-Ed in the August 9th issue of the New York Times, titled, “The First Church of Robotics.” It is a brief revisitation of some ideas from … Read more Jaron Lanier Op-Ed on AI
2010 Braverman Prize Winner
June 1, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize Winner Announced (University of Oregon, Eugene, OR) The Progressive Librarians Guild is pleased to announce the winner of the 2010 … Read more 2010 Braverman Prize Winner
The Library Paraprofessional Movement and the Deprofessionalization of Librarianship
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 … Read more The Library Paraprofessional Movement and the Deprofessionalization of Librarianship