Librarians on the planning commission!
November 16, 2016 1:15 PM   Subscribe

Public In/Formation
for decades. They have raucously debated how to accommodate all kinds of online behavior, and have developed tools for promoting free speech and open access while discouraging illegal activity and shielding patrons and staff from offensive images. They have tested policies and procedures — time limits, download caps, and content filters — for ensuring that resources are shared fairly. The information commons is messy, and negotiating such issues is part of living in a robust democracy. What works in the public library can work on the street.
posted by the man of twists and turns (9 comments total) 48 users marked this as a favorite
 
Challenge accepted.
posted by wingless_angel at 1:50 PM on November 16, 2016 [4 favorites]


I said elsewhere online today based on something unrelated to any of these articles (but related to the upcoming Trump Administration) that "librarians will maybe save us all" and I'm looking forward to being proven right.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:13 PM on November 16, 2016 [3 favorites]


I definitely have hope that the libraries will remain extremely helpful and mostly nonpartisan (as far as that can be measured). The main link is a solid read.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:12 PM on November 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


I would be grateful if librarians could share some lessons on things like Internet filtering and dispite reolution over shared resources (i.e., the Roku with the Netflix password).

Seriously! They have years of experience while my wife and I are just muddling along managing access for ourselves and the kids.

(And after that I would ask them about stuff like the best tool for sharing electronic resources within a famaily: Piratebox or Librarybox or Plex or just an open fileserver? Should I let children develop a taxonomy, or use an established set of descriptors? &c.
posted by wenestvedt at 4:36 PM on November 16, 2016 [4 favorites]


Librarians on the planning commission!

DONE.

Librarians on the planning commission will be the ones to ask, why should procurement agreements favor platform providers rather than the citizens who contribute data?

I would totally do this, but my planning commission doesn't get to vet procurement agreements; we're basically just zoning. I mostly try to get developers to add bicycle parking to everything.
posted by asperity at 6:21 PM on November 16, 2016 [2 favorites]


Should I let children develop a taxonomy, or use an established set of descriptors?

If you don't talk to your children about Ranganathan, who will?
posted by stet at 6:38 PM on November 16, 2016 [22 favorites]


I won't let anyone add a tag if they cannot spell it correctly!
posted by wenestvedt at 3:06 AM on November 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


By Bohyun Kim: A collection of statements and messages sent out public or internally to reaffirm diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values by libraries or colleges/universities, and Finding the Right Words in Post-Election Libraries and Higher Ed.
posted by Wordshore at 7:13 AM on November 17, 2016


*delurks*

I'm starting a Masters of Information Management next year, so these articles are right up my alley.

I have been geeking out over the recently released MIT report on the Future of Libraries. If you're interested in the role libraries play in the community, it's well worth a read. We began rethinking the mission and function of the Libraries around the idea of a global audience, including not only current users but future ones as well: a library that serves not only today’s students but the 10-year-old girl in Nigeria who is exploring her interest in robotics.

Also worth a read is this talk by Chris Bourg, MIT's Director of Libraries, in which she argues I don’t think we need to save libraries, but I do think we might need libraries to save us.

(Everything else on her website is worth reading too. Chris Bourg is one of my library heroes. As is mefi's jessamyn.)
posted by davidwitteveen at 8:48 PM on November 17, 2016 [2 favorites]


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