The Challenges of Middle East Collection Librarianship
The life of a Middle East collections librarian is typically one of quiet cataloging balanced with defensive declarations of one's significance to a great many co-workers and fellow university folk who fail to understand the need to collect items in "those squiggly languages." In an effort to share ideas on how to gain greater respect among peers while serving patrons as best as possible, hard-working Middle East librarians across the United States and the world commiserate on listservs and attend the annual Middle East Librarian Association (MELA) conference. They often discuss the new and the continuing obstacles to this specialty reaching its full potential and obtaining its due respect.
Censorship is an issue. Books are usually censored upon publishing, but the censors can change their minds…
Primary among concerns is money. Also, few things speak so clearly about what the library prizes than does space allocation. Middle East collections are frequently in the inner, dark depths, the highest reaches, or the most backward rooms of the libraries that contain them. Certified librarians regularly receive greater deference and respect within the library organizational structure, particularly those with bureaucratic (role) systems (Handy 185). But professionals cost more, so hiring students is an established practice. But, if finding qualified personnel is a problem at Princeton University, which has an endowment of 3.5 billion dollars, it is almost certainly a problem everywhere (Weinberger). Finally, respect infrequently comes from the lofty positions beyond the library walls. Presidents, Provosts, and Regents often fail to perceive the library as an essential, perpetually developing aspect of campus life. The core of the problem may be that the people making the decisions in libraries and in administrations do not see a need for a library because they do not visit it. This divide might best be bridged by personally inviting these leaders to annual report meetings, presentations, or displays related to your collection. When they do not at first respond--and they likely will not--display a bit of personal power (Handy 131) and continue to invite them. If they regularly receive things in your name, their curiosity may eventually get the better of them.
Challenges specific to the Middle East Librarianship include:
- Cataloging challenges
- Delays of copy cataloging
- Student-dependent work
- Nothing arriving shelf-
- On-line materials
- A host of supply problems.
Cataloging challenges center around transliteration systems, a marked dependency by more and more institutions on copy cataloging, and a shift from relying on expert catalogers to the growing use of student workers.
Librarians are defined as “a person, typically with a degree in library science, who administers or assists in a library.” In truth, they are much more than that. In a recent interview with Traci Glass, the Teen Librarian at the Eugene Public library, we explored her personal story with becoming a librarian, including how it has benefitted and affected her life.
Who can resist a book with a chapter titled, "Labia Lumps, Chunky Discharge, and Other Things They Never Taught Me in Library School"? Released this past summer, Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out takes no prisoners as its contributors ponder everything from the backtracking of '60s values by ALA's baby boomers to librarian imagery in erotica. This edited volume is a sequel to a 1972 self-published book titled Revolting Librarians. The original is worth checking out for its historical value alone. The editors of the 2003 volume, Katia Roberto and Jessamyn West gathered essays from ten of the original writers from the 1972 book for this version and it is interesting to see what thirty years has done to these radical librarians.
Aftergood, Steven. "Secret Intelligence Service." Intelligence Agency. FAS, October 2011. Web. 22 May 2011. .
It is significant to understand what the KGB was and what it did, since this book is centered around the actions of this organization. The KGB was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its collapse in 1991. The KGB was also considered to have been a military service and was governed by army laws and regulations. Its main focuses included foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, operative-investigatory activities, guarding the State Boarder of the USSR and the leadership of the Soviet Government, organization and ensuring of government communications as well as fighting off nationalism and anti-Soviet activities. The KGB failed to rebuild most of its U.S. illegal resident networks, and the last major illegal resident was betrayed by his own assistant in 1957. Recruitment then put emphasis on mercenary agents. This approach was successful in espionage that was specifically scientific...
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who was in part one of the main participants in the “Age of Discovery.” Columbus growing up studied mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation. As Columbus got older he started to
The excitement for mining and excavating for minerals was sparked in prospectors and people looking for an easy way of profit in the 60’s.This second gold rush of speaks, despite most of the minerals they were after was more on the lines of copper, nickel, iron and the like, brought high hopes of those wanting to get rich fast. Though thousands had hope in making money from mining on their own, many excavators found little gold on their own efforts. Most needed to actually find work in mines. But, they almost got something even better. The v...
This library system is utilizing all the technologies and materials available to them to serve the community in the best way. Despite certain social indicators and demographic statistics indicating that the library should not be overly utilized, it is thriving and is heavily in use. There are areas that the library can look to improve based on statistical evidence, such as reaching out to the low income population and the over 55 years age group. This library seems to be meeting numerous needs for a wide range of patrons, and doing it well.
While the Dewey decimal system contains a comprehensive index, the Library of Congress Classification system does not (Taylor 430). Each volume of the LCC schedules contains its own index and these indexes do not refer to one another. Finding subjects in the schedules can be awkward. To locate a topic, one must check through each volume index of all the different disciplines that may ...
On the other hand, just as there are laws there are many weak laws that have been enforced to protect animals from cruelty. As a matter of fact not only are the laws weak, but they are also rarely enforced. The reason being is because police officers and public presecutors frequently view animal cru...
Animal cruelty is everywhere even in the country where the animals are raised for food. People beat, torturer, and even give animals drugs to make them high. When people are convicted of animal cruelty they basically just get a slap of the wrist, the court system does not charge them for anything. The reason they do not charge people for this is because the court system does not see them as people, we see them as animals but they also feel like us. We cannot stop people from doing things to animals but people can give them more time for what they did, the law put people away for murdering other people because they are humans.
The most debatable and controversial form of censorship today is the banning of books in school libraries. Banning books that educate students is wrong and selfish. Censorship of books in school libraries is neither uncommon nor an issue of the past. Books with artistic and cultural worth are still challenged constantly by those who want to control what others read. The roots of bigotry and illiteracy that fuel efforts to censor books and free expression are unacceptable and unconditional. Censoring school books in libraries can often lead to censorship of our basic freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment. In some cases, a minority ends up dictating the majority in censorship cases. To be told what is permissible reading material and what is not is a direct violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
“There can be many reason for animal cruelty, like any other form of violence, is often committed by a person who feels powerless, unnoticed, or under control of others. Some who are cruel to animals copy acts what they have seen or that have been done to them, others see harming an animal as a safe way to get revenge against--or threaten-- someone who cares about that animal”. (“Animal… Statistics”) Concerns towards abusing animals have gone up in the past. Although there are not many cases on animal abuse, many have occurred. Abusers are charged with Criminal Animal Abuse and then sentenced to life in prison. Some animals that are physically abused are sometimes rescued by Animal Control, and are taken it to an animal shelter. However, many shelters have not had the space to keep the animals so the workers would have to put them down (Carol Roach). Researchers have shown that the main animals getting abused are dogs, chickens, horses, and livestock (“Animal...
Throughout the years most country's governments have established some sort of secret police. No matter what the government called it, whether it is the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or her Majesty's secret service (MI6), whatever name the government used, the international term of "secret police" could always be applied. Many agencies of secret police have had their success and failures, some more than others. The KGB, which in English means "the Committee of Public Safety," has had their share of both successes and failures. Most secret police agencies have been used primarily to obtain information from other countries. This was also a primary goal for the KGB, but one of their other goals, which was just as important, was to keep unwanted outside information from the Russian people. This was only one out of many the KGB's objectives. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to prove that the actions of the KGB were, all in all, a success.
A library or information unit must have a dedicated plan on having an organized Collection Development Policy, represents the guideposts of all types of library institutions. Collection development is the process of planning, selecting, acquiring and evaluating the library collections’ convenience to print and electronic collection developments. Thus, it is essential to have a written collection development policy, a statement of general collection building principles with desalinating the purpose and content of a collection in terms of relevance and internal audiences (Clayton and Gorman 2007). Broadly, the international and local libraries have sketched written collection development policies which they are aware of its uses. Recently, the written policies consistently renewed with the rise of digital collections. However, the value of the written collection development plan shakes with the complexity of managing electronic resources, funding and time considerations, criticism on how it written and also its inflexibility. This essay will examine the arguments for having the advantages of the written collection development policy (CDP) and the issues evolve which against the latter.
Hence, censorship is essential in society to eliminate discrimination on basis of race and gender, protect children, maintain stability and restore what censor sees as lost moral values. Censorship occurs when expressive materials like books, magazines, movies, videos, music or works of art are restricted to particular audiences based on their age or other characteristics. http://www.ala.org/oif/intellectualfreedeomandcensorship.html) Censorship is not a recent development. It wasn’t imposed properly or there weren’t strict regulations before.