How to Read Coronavirus Studies Like a Scientist

Carl Zimmer, "How to Read Coronavirus Studies Like a Scientist." New York Times, Jun 2, 2020, p. D7.

     The National Library of Medicine's Database at the start of June contains over 17,000 published papers about he new coronavirus.  A website called bioRxiv, which hosts studies that have yet to go through peer review, contains over 4,000 papers.
     In earlier times, few people aside from scientists would have laid eyes on these papers.  Months or years after they were written, they'd wind up in printed journals tucked away on a library shelf.  But now the world can surf the rising tide of research on the new coronavirus. The vast majority of papers about it can be read free online.
     But just because scientific papers are easier to get hold of doesn't mean that they are easier to make sense of.  Reading them can be a challenge for the layperson, even one with some science education.  It's not just the jargon that scientists use to compress a lot of results into a small space. Just like sonnets, sagas and short stories, scientific papers are a genre with its own unwritten rules, rules that have developed over generations. 

COMMENT

   This article offers a variation of the library "dusty shelves" with unread articles tucked away until they were rescued by online distribution. Many publishers have made COVID-19 studies open-access, but in fact there are usually paywalls between laypeople and scientific journal  literature.   The article offers helpful advice for how to approach scientific literature.  The article mentions NLM databases and a medical pre-print archive.  Medical information has its own unique information system because it can be so urgent for doctors and public health agencies to have up-to-date research. 

Greeting the Future, Gingerly, With Mortarboards and Masks

John Branch and Campbell Robertson, "Greeting the Future, Gingerly, With Mortarboards and Masks." New York Times, May 31, 2020, p. 1

     Charlie Forster was at the library one afternoon in March when he ran into a friend from Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh
     "I was like, 'Do you want to come over to my house?'" he said, "So we took the bus home and made grilled cheeses and watched that movie 'Her'" which explores isolation and relationships nurtured via electronic devices.
     Little did he know that the coronavirus that was spreading accross the country would give him and his friends their own lesson in being along. 

COMMENT

In this library tale we don't know why Charlie went to the library, but we do know that it turned into a social encounter with a friend he might not have though to contact via social media.  The library functions as a physical community space where people can run into each other.

Ask Ann Cannon

Ann Cannon, "Ask Ann Cannon." Salt Lake Tribune, 5/31/2020 p. D6.

Dear Ann Cannon,
I find that during this time of social distancing, one of the activities I miss most is visiting the library. Any suggestions for borrowing books? Not e-books, not audio book, real books.

COMMENT 

I know advice columnist Ann Cannon is a book lover because last time I ran into her it was at the King's English bookshop.  I also miss the library.  We've had the same books checked out for 3 months now, and we've already read them.  During the pandemic I used the online New York Times at the public library and  some research databases at an academic library, but I've been buying books with my stimulus check because I can barely concentrate on reading at all these days, much less online reading. 

Wartime for Wodehouse

Rivka Galchen. "Wartime for Wodehouse," New Yorker. 6/1/2020 p. 60-63.

The Entry for November 14th begins, "I must make a note of this day as one of the absolutely flawless ones of my life."  Even if his private journal was a kind of performance-- for himself? for future readers?-- it was a very convincing one.  (The penciled journal pages can be read in the rare-books room of the British Library.)

COMMENT

    P.G. Wodehouse spent forty-eight weeks in a German internment camp in 1940 and 1941.  While he was there he kept a relentlessly cheerful diary which is he British Library rare books room. 

• P.G. Wodehouse Archive at the British Library: https://blogs.bl.uk/english-and-drama/2016/12/pg-wodehouse-archive-at-the-british-library-.html

The Needy Will Face Obstacles to Getting Stimulus Payments

Ron Lieber and Alan Rappeport, "The Needy Will Face Obstacles to Getting Stimulus Payments," New York Times, April 3, 2020, B6

     Filing even the simplest of returns could pose challenges during a pandemic.  The I.R.S. does have a free filing site, but those who lack internet access could be unable to use it because nonprofits, libraries and other places are closed. 

COMMENT

     People with no internet or devices are dependent on shared public equipment.  That means they need to go to the library in order to file a tax return.  When libraries are closed, there is no place to file online or even to print out paper tax forms.   COVID 19 has brought the digital divide into stark focus since people who have not filed tax returns will also need to file online to get COVID relief checks.  With libraries closed, where will they do that?
 
    The situation has raised the call for internet as a public utility, but that still wouldn't assure access for everyone.  There still needs to be a public option for internet connections and working devices, and that has mainly turned out to be libraries.

Ann Pratchett on Why We Need Life-Changing Books Right Now

Ann Pratchett, Ann Patchett on Why We Need Life-Changing Books Right Now new York Times, March 30, 2020. Online

     Kate [DiCamillo]and her publicist and I sat in tiny chairs at a tiny table in the school library and ate our salads. They made a big fuss over how nice I was to bring them lunch. The whole encounter lasted less than 30 minutes. Then Kate gave a talk in an auditorium packed with kids and their parents. I hadn’t meant to stay but then I did. She talked about her mother’s vacuum cleaner. She was great.

COMMENT

     The school librarian has invited author Kate DiCamillo to talk to the students, which inspires author and bookseller Ann Pratchett to read a kind of children's literature she did not expect to enjoy.  

Locked Out of the Virtual Classroom

New York Times Editorial Board, Locked Out of the Virtual Classroom, New York Times, March 27, 2020. Online.

     Jessica Rosenworcel, a Federal Communications Commission member who has been proselytizing on this issue for several years, has rightly called on the F.C.C. to use funds earmarked for connecting schools and libraries to the internet to provide schools with internet hot spots that could be lent to students.
…
     Commissioner Rosenworcel’s access plan focuses on expanding the federal program known as E-Rate, which helps qualifying schools, school systems and libraries acquire broadband at up to a 90 percent discount. E-Rate program funding is based on demand, up to an annual F.C.C.-established cap of $4.15 billion. It would be a simple matter for the commission to extend the program so that schools can buy hot spots that are then distributed to needy students.
     But given the dire need in poor and rural communities, it would also be right to leverage E-Rate — or something like it — to bring permanent broadband into homes for millions of internet-deprived schoolchildren and subsistence workers.

COMMENT

     Schools and libraries are trying to compensate for a digital divide that means some people have fast Internet access and some don't.  They aren't getting much support, possibly because they seem to be a stopgap when the real goal is to get everyone fast internet access from home.  

     Internet would help people get connected since smartphones seem ubiquitous.  However,  the barrier isn't just the Internet connection-- it's also having a device to do homework on, and maybe a printer.  At my house three people share one laptop.  We don't own a printer because we used to be able to go to the library when we needed to print.  Electronic devices become obsolete very, very quickly.  An additional burden on people too poor for Internet is, how will they continue to upgrade their devices?   The global trend seems to be that the ubiquitous computer is a smartphone.  Will poor students end up trying to write term papers on their phones?