Friday, May 31, 2019

Public Pushback

Tay Wiles. Public Pushback: Arivaca, Arizona, Became a Magnet for Anti-Anti-Immigrant Activists Locals Wouldn’t Have It. High Country News, May 27, 2019, p. 12-17.

This time, the townspeople called in outside support: They invited Jess Campbell to the meeting. Campbell works for the nonprofit Rural Organizing Project in Oregon, which helps communities organize around issues ranging from defunded libraries to hate crimes and far right extremism.

COMMENT


     The border town of Arivaca is dealing with the nuisance of out-of-town, self-appointed anti-immigrant militias. The non-profit that is helping with the situation has a mission of advancing democracy, including preventing the loss of rural libraries.  

     Librarians themselves have not always understood that reductionist access to information is not the sole function of a library.  Sociologists have identified  libraries as part of a social infrastructure that creates strong, resilient communities. The activists know this and recognize libraries as community centers. They suggest that members can "partner with local schools, libraries or historical museums to reach your entire community."  This suggestion also suggests that there may not be another source of community information, possibly when small, rural communities may exist in a news desert. 

Monday, May 20, 2019

The Presentation on Egypt

Camille Bordas, "The Presentation on Egypt," New Yorker, May 20, 2019, 69-75.

     Punishment, at Peters Elementary, meant going to the school library during lunch break and reflecting on your behavior. Danielle had her habits at the library, a favorite spot.  At this point, she knew where everything was, so she went straight to the wildlife section and picked out a book about sharks. She wanted to know if they build houses, like she'd told her mother they did. She was pretty sure they didn't, but maybe they did something else that was impressive. 

COMMENT

      In this fictional short story Danielle is nine years old.  She is being punished because she brought a cigarette lighter to school.  The library establishes Danielle as the kind of friendless kid who prefers the library to the playground.  The story centers on withholding information and keeping secrets.  Earlier in the story, Danielle's surgeon father has persuaded the wife of a dying man to pull the plug by suggesting that even if the man is "asleep" he might be suffering. "Aren't most of your dreams horrifying?" the father asks, talking about himself, of course.


Let's Party Like it's 1994! (Sigh, Well, Perhaps Not.)

Caity Weaver, “Let’s Party Like It’s 1994! (Sigh, Well, Perhaps Not,) New York Times, May 29, 2019, ST1.

     By the fourth of fifth day of 1994, I’d stopped impulsively grabbing at empty spaces on my desk for my cellphone.  But my reflex to quickly Google things never deteriorated. I began compiling my questions — a list of itches to be scratched at a later time — and spent the finals day of my week at the Brooklyn Public Library, to see what percentage of answers I could find in books. About 17 percent, it turned out.  While I was not able to learn the location of the nearest FedEx, the best-selling compact mirror of all time or the name of a green Chanel nail polish I had recently seen in a discount store, I did learn the ingredients in Coca-Cola cake where Josephine Baker was born (St. Louis) and what happened to Joan Lunden after 1994.
 ...
     I copied down the Dewey Decimal number for her 2015 book “Had I Known,” and located it on a shelf. The subtitle took the wind out of my sails— “A Memoir of Survival.”  In the first pages, I learned that Joan had gotten a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2014.  The news made my silly assignment feel stupid.  Impudent, even.  Joan had seemed to delight in her health on the tape in 1994.  Twenty-five years later, it was a success to be surviving. 

COMMENT

     The conceit of this article is that the 21-year old author is attempting to re-inhabit the pre-Internet Gen X past where,without Google at her fingertips, the library has to do. In 1994 the library would have had a shelf of phone books including Yellow Pages and it would have been easy for librarians to find the nearest FedEx. There would have been glossy women's magazines with ads for fashionable nail-polish colors. Nowadays, the Internet is the only way to find information about businesses and ephemeral fashion trends.  The problem is, without the phone books and magazines there will be no record of these things.  25 years in the future, it will be much harder to tell what people in 2019 wore or ate because there is no time-stamped record.

     The writer doesn’t say, but I imagine that the Coca-Cola cake recipe was in some kind of Southern cookbook along with cultural context for why anybody would make such an awful-sounding desert.  Food history is an important kind of cultural history-- in order to re-create the past the author reports on trying flavorless “diet” recipes from a 1994 cookbook called Cooking Light.  On the Internet recipes are disassociated.  there's no sense of foodways. Knowing what people ate in the past may seem fairly trivial, but in 2019 the Lancet EAT Project has identified the food system as an existential threat to human existence.[1]  

   The "silly" assignment leads Weaver to two unexpectedly profound experiences. One is a confrontation with the passage of time, thhe other a quiet state of mind that emerges when the “mental screaming” induced by technological stimuli begins to calm.  Perhaps instead of boasting that libraries aren’t quiet places any more, librarians in 2019 might do better to  promote the advantages of mindfulness that are  inherently connected with deep reading and the library experience. 

   In fact, researches have found that mental capability improves though electronic disconnection and contact with nature. [2] “The commotion” induced by technology began in 1998 when Microsoft started to bundle a web browser with its software.  Doing the math, that's the same year the author was born. 


[1] The EAT Lancet Commission on Food, Planet & Health
[2] Atchley, Ruth Ann, David L. Strayer, and Paul Atchley. "Creativity in the wild: Improving creative reasoning through immersion in natural settings." PloS one 7, no. 12 (2012): e51474.

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Lessons in Printing

Image result for klancy de nevers printing 
Klancy Clark de Nevers, Lessons in Printing,  Scattered Leaves Press, 2018.

      She was a reader. She read all the time. The Seattle Post Intelligencer accompanied her breakfast of coffee with sugar and cream skimmed off the top of the milk bottle. The evenings Aberdeen Daily World enlivened cocktail hour. Magazines like Time, Saturday Evening Post, or Life engaged her as she sat in her chair to the right of the fireplace. Stretching out on the couch after the housework was done, she devoured novels from the library, mysteries, the latest arrival from the Book-of-the-Month Club. She often reread her favorite book, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. My sisters and I also reread it often, recognizing the heroine, Cassandra Mortmain and our mother as kindred spirits. Cassandra also was sensible, outgoing and a doer. 
...
     I wonder whether he kept a dry eye as he tried to comfort his readers: "There is no need to shed tears for a vanished institution..." and promised to preserve the Post's Morgue as a valuable historical reference.  He knew that morgue would be cared for.  The fifty-seven volumes of news and features are still accessible, in large part because of the newspaper's glossy book stock holds up and displays photographs well.  The full collection is maintained by the Aberdeen Timberland Library, on microfilm by the state of Washington, and in both forms in my guestroom closet.

COMMENT

     Here’s a recurring library theme— reading habits as a reflection of a person’s true self.[1]  In this instance, the mother’s personality is reflected in the heroine of her favorite book.  Her daughters love the book, too, in part because it reminds them of  mom. 

     Mom's reading habits are a combination of subscriptions and library books. The description is from the days when libraries didn't usually circulate periodicals.  If you wanted to read them you had to sit in the library reading room.  

  The defunct newspaper was the Gray's Harbor Post which ceased publication in 1961.  The paper recorded a history of small-town life.  The demise of the paper was related to a declining economy related to resource extraction.  Once the newspaper was gone, there was no longer anyone to tell the story.


Monday, May 13, 2019

Prescribed Reading

Abigail Zuger, "Prescribed Reading: A Doctor's Guide to Books," New York Times Book Review, May 12, 2019, p. 11. 

     Experts have been tackling the worldwide resurgence of measles for decades no, and it was only a matter of time before the scattershot outbreaks of years past turned into the year's newsworthy explosions.
     Readers curious about this infection rising phoenix like for its own ashes will find both less and more in the library than they may want.  Aside from a few textbooks an pamphlets, I couldn't find a whole book devoted to measles-- not since the 10th century A. D., the is, when the Persian physician Al-Razi write "The Smallpox and Measles" to differentiate the two.
COMMENT

     The passage comes from a bibliographic essay about vaccinations. The author assumes that you would probably not need to buy your own collection of such books, so naturally you'd look for them in a library collection.

     The problem is, it's not a straightforward reference question.  Looking up the word "measles" turns up medical information that is radically out-of-date and unhelpful.  You could look online, but then you'd find medical sites, not a history of the disease or the development of vaccinations against it.  Worse, the Internet is a prime source of misleading anti-vax propaganda that is responsible for recent measles outbreaks in the first place.  If anti-vexers had started with better information research strategies, they might have made better medical decisions.

     These research pitfalls are familiar to reference librarians.  Biased websites, fake news, ads masquerading as "news," websites that are too specific with no context -- some medical libraries have set up websites to try to point people towards relatively more reliable medical information online.  But in this instance seems like the library is not much better with its one historic reference.  The author does what any good reference librarian would do and tries different vocabulary, re-focusing on the question of vaccination rather than the etiology of the disease. A spate of recent popular science books turn up, which tell a compelling tale of medical history although at least one has "some real bloopers" as far as medical science.  The author comments, "that's why some wise educator long ago created textbooks."

   




Sunday, May 12, 2019

Math, Taught Like Football

John Urschel, "Math, Taught Like Football," New York Times, May 12 2019 p. SR10.

     In elementary school, my mind wandered so much during class that I sometimes didn't respond when I was called on, and I resisted using the rote techniques we were taught to use to solve problems.  One of my teachers told my mother that I was "slow" and should repeat a grade.
     But my problem wasn't with math itself.  In fact, I spent countless hours as a child doing logic and math puzzles on my own, and as a teenager, when a topic seemed particularly interesting, I would go to the library and read more about it. 

 COMMENT

    A recurring theme in library stories describes self-directed research that enables someone to find their passion or discover an identity. This library exploration is notable for being independent of formal teaching, and in a few instances, specifically described as a reaction to active discouragement. [1]  Most teachers do try to encourage self-directed learning, by assigning research papers and such, but the structure of classroom teaching based on a core curriculum means students are always studying for a test.  

   These stories suggest that the library is essential to education not because it supports classroom learning but specifically because the knowledge to be found in library materials it is not limited by classroom learning.  One kind of coming-of-age happens when a child gets their first library card and can read whatever they want to; another coming-of-age happens when students realize that they are not limited by the authority-figure of a teacher.   In that sense, academic libraries have a neglected role in facilitating the transition from student to expert.  Colleges and universities award degrees based on a set of classes, but going to class is not actually the goal of higher education.  The goal is for students to move beyond the need for professors.  The pretense is that the transition happens by writing a dissertation or thesis.  In reality, the transition often happens at the library, even though nobody awards grades or credit for the achievement.  

  This writer went on to get a PhD in mathematics despite poor teaching.  It's not clear whether or not better math coaching would have resulted in better self-directed research, but it is clear that having access to a library compensated for the limitations of the classroom.  

[1] See Well Read, Well KnownHow to Tap Your Inner Reader; Between the World and Me

Friday, May 10, 2019

To Walk is Human

Antonia Makchik, "To Walk is Human: to Reflect, Divine," High Country News, May 13, 2019 p.42.

     What walking has given me can never be distilled onto a Fitbit or calorie counting app. Rather, I am far more aware now of how my senses help my brain filter and interpret the vast sea of information constantly shifting around me, allowing me too not just move through the world, but to understand my own place within it.  I've seen the same transformation in my son: At 10, he started walking to and from school by himself, and realized that he could also walk to after-school karate or wander to the library or a friend's house and then home again without his parents.  Many of his friends who were driven everywhere didn't know how to get from one side of town to the other; a 15- to 20- minute walk.

 COMMENT

    When children find freedom at that library it is often because they have the freedom to choose what to read. The books don't cost money to borrow so kids can try things they might not like. A kind of coming-of-age happens in the transition from the juvenile collection to the regular stacks.

   This neighborhood library offers another kind of freedom since a 10-year old can get there  himself on foot or bicycle.  Adults think of driving as a kind of coming-of-age because the driver's license frees children from being driven, but the library card coming-of-age can happen much earlier in life.  It will be six years before this kid can drive, but he's already gaining a sense of independence and self-determination.  I agree with his mom, that's a wonderful thing.

   The article specifies that the family moved from an exurban home to a walkable town. Adults forget (or maybe never knew) that car-dependent infrastructure is a serious obstacle for people who can't drive or can't afford to drive, and that means all children.  Libraries are especially accommodating to children with juvenile collections and children's librarians, but it's also an important aspect of libraries that, in the right kind of walkable environment,  kids can go there even if they don't go with their parents.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Shelf Life

Meryl Gordon, "Shelf Life: The Story of One of the Rarest Books in the World." New York Times Book Review, May 5, 2019, p.18.

     The Gutenberg Bible, purchased n 1950, was the jewel of her collection which she left to St. John's Seminary upon her death in 1958.
     In her bequest, she insisted the nothing be sold for 25 years, in the belief that future librarians should have flexibility but would keep the collection intact.  It was a tragic mistake.  The Los Angeles Archdiocese, unable to resist monetizing the valuable assets, put the entire Doheny book collection on sale in 1987.  The Maruzen Co. Ltd of Tokyo snapped up the Gutenberg for $4.4 million.  It is now the property of Keio University, where it has been digitized and locked away from public view. 

 COMMENT

    The quote comes from a book review about a biography of a rare Gutenberg Bible[1]. The collector, as in other library stories, [2] imagines that her rare book collection has enough value to be guarded intact by librarians.  In fact, the librarians sell the collection for money.

     What's most interesting to me is the comment that the digitized book is "locked away."  Librarians like to imagine that digitization makes rare and valuable things more available, not less available.  But an online picture of a Gutenberg Bible is not really the same thing as a Gutenberg Bible even though the text is the same. The spooky sense of history is lost in the format transition.

[1] Margaret Leslie Davis, The Lost Gutenberg: The Astounding Story of One Book's Five-Hundred-Year Odyssey, Tarcher Perigee, 2019. 
[2] Can't. Just. Stop. 

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Why Your Neighborhood Can Determine Whether Your Child Thrives as an Adult

Matthew Brown, "Why Your Neighborhood can Determine Whether Your Child Thrives as an Adult," Deseret News, May 1, 2019, Online.
     Libraries, community centers, parks, houses of worship and other neighborhood gathering places can unlock opportunities for children to achieve the American Dream. That's what experts told a joint congressional committee Tuesday in Washington, asserting that rebuilding declining communities to foster social connections is key to closing the widening gap of economic inequality in America today. [1]
...

     Dr. Patrick Sharkey, a sociology professor at New York University, said government policies offering incentives to reversing a 50-year trend of families, businesses and social institutions fleeing economically hard-hit communities could address the disparities that Hendren's research revealed.
     "The most effective way to build stronger communities is to invest in core public institutions like schools and libraries, and public amenities like parks and playgrounds, that bring people together in shared spaces," he said.

COMMENT

      In his testimony, Dr. Sharkey cites a poll from the American Enterprise Institute that identifies schools and libraries as the top to elements that make communities successful. [2]   He goes on to say that there are three ways to build successful neighborhoods, 1) scale back policies that create geographic inequality 2) help families move to better neighborhoods and 3) community investment.  

     It's hard to say where the cause and effect lies. Future success  seems to depend largely on how much help kids get from their parents. And of course, rich people generally live in nicer neighborhoods. However, the U.S. Census Bureau says that children who grow up just a few miles apart in families with comparable incomes can have very different life outcomes. [3]  In fact, I do earn far less than my parents and I do live in a neighborhood with less social capital. It's not my preference. I would have loved to buy a house in the neighborhood where I grew up, but it's out of my price range.  I suppose my kids are doomed. At least we have a nice public library, although the neighborhood branch is currently closed for repairs due to flooding that was probably a result of climate change.
  


[1] U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Expanding Opportunity by Strengthening Families, Communities, and Civil Society [hearing] (April 29, 2019). 

[2] AEI Survey on Community and Society (February 2019).  

[3] The Opportunity Atlas: Mapping the Social Roots of Social Mobility (U.S. Census Bureau, October 2018).