Odds and Ends from Week 3

              “Librarians and Party Girls: Cultural Studies and the Meaning of the Librarian.”  After class the other day, I opted to not devote too much blog space to this article.  Let’s just leave it as this: Opposed to the plot of that early 90s movie, a ‘party girl’ could be a librarian, and a ‘librarian’ could be a party girl.  I can be a librarian.  I can be a party girl.  There are negative stereotypes to both; we know this.  But not all are necessarily true.  Every other article we read this week talked about not stereotyping and looking at the injustices plaguing libraries.  This article seemed to more reference personal transformation through a movie.  Interesting, but not all that relevant to other classroom discussions.

                I liked the title of Wiegand’s article “Tunnel Vision and Blind Spots: What the Past Tells Us about the Present,” and I liked the article even more! (Side note:  I read this one after I read “Party Girls,” and I really don’t see how “Party Girls” was in response to this well thought out piece)  To describe mistakes of the past as ‘tunnel vision and blind spots’ is very poetic and paints a vivid picture of problems libraries faced in the past.  Is it true that librarians are in charge of shaping the minds of their patrons?  At first, it seems as though that is a huge overstatement of the responsibilities of librarians.  But, after thinking about it more, it is true that it is the librarian of a certain library that decided what materials are chosen for the public.  So, in essence, librarians do choose the material that is available for patrons to read.   I enjoy reading about historical events and the way that life has evolved over past years.  Because of this, I loved how this article was divided into different year periods and there were discussions of libraries during that time.  Does anyone know if there is a log that documents all of the materials in a library during a given year, say 1920?  This log would be fascinating to look at in present day.  I am interested to see how the collections specifically changed after World War I and then again after World War II.  Collections were smaller and less global, and thus less objective.  It would be a huge undertaking to analyze, but how interesting to investigate this information!

                Another facet of this article I found fascinating was the discussion of “good,” “bad,” and “harmless” reading.  Fiction books make up such a large amount of a library collection, I can’t imagine there being a time when “entertainment” reading was seen as less desirable than reading non-fiction.  Especially in terms of children’s literature!  If children do not have books that they enjoy, they will see reading as a chore and not progress as readers.  If they do not progress as readers, then they will not be able to read the “good” material in the library.  I know that the article was referencing more adult fiction than children’s, but the same still holds true.  People do not want to continue to read if they don’t find it interesting.   I could blab on and on about how interesting I found this article, but that could get redundant.  But how come the last stretch of years was 1965-1990?  I feel that that is a large amount of years and more probably changed in libraries during that time than was mentioned.  The other eras were described in such detail, and then the final era seemed to just fly by.  Whoosh!  Anyone else feel this way too?  All in all, really interesting article concerning the history of libraries and the “tunnel vision and blind spots” they faced throughout the past century. 

               I am actually very glad that the SLIS Program Planning Guide was included in our class readings.  I searched for this on-line this summer when it came time to register for classes.  (Couldn’t find it, and ended up meeting with my advisor instead).  I really had no idea what the scope and sequence of the program was, what classes to take, what was required…  I felt almost as if I was blindly going into my first year of grad school.  However, maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t find it earlier in the summer…  I think this program guide would have freaked me out.  It is a lot of information thrown at the reader all at once.  Now that I have started taking classes, I find the information less overwhelming, but not entirely crystal clear.  Not that I plan on getting any BC grades or lower, but doesn’t two BC grades resulting in automatically being dropped from the program seem a bit harsh?  I could understand a probationary program of some sort, but getting dropped from the program is an intense measure.  I am currently working full time as a kindergarten and 1^st grade teacher while going to graduate school part time.  After reading through this planning guide… I realize I have a long winding path in front of me.  Just take one step at a time and hopefully I’ll finish this degree before the turn of the next decade.   But again, good suggestion as to reading this program guide for class.

(PS... I am not happy with the spacing of this entry... but I can't seem to fix it!  Erg.)