The L Word Versus the I Word
Of the 49 ALA-accredited library science programs in the United States, only one - the School of Library Science at Clarion University - omits the word "information" from its name. The "L" word doesn't fare so well. Twenty-eight percent of accredited library science programs have dropped the word "library" from their name. Other "I" word schools don't bother to seek accreditation because they no longer see their mission as training librarians.
The "L" word camp needs to accept the political realities facing LIS programs.
Librarians condemn the loss of their beloved "L" word and have even demanded the ALA refuse to accredit schools that drop it. Names are important. By its name, we recognize the character and purpose of an organization. A library science school has a clear, focused mission - to educate and train students to become librarians. By contrast, the mission of an information school is broader and may (or may not) include the basic training of librarians. Being precise by nature, librarians prefer a name that is descriptive. More importantly, the "L" word signifies the rich cultural heritage that is librarianship.
Happily, the majority of ALA-accredited schools use both the "L" and the "I" words to describe themselves. This is as it should be. The motivation for dropping the "L" word is fueled by a perceived lack of prestige and a belief that the word "library" limits the scope of education. While universities do look down upon library science as a discipline lacking academic depth, a name change alone will not cure that opinion.
There is a more serious issue at stake - that of theory versus skills. Here, I depart from the "L" word camp and inch closer to the side of information. The scope of an LIS education must be broader than the traditional library science core. As Childers points out, "…it's clear that information handling is bigger than one institution - bigger than the library institution but including it..." The science of information is a compelling and dynamic field not limited to librarians. Webmasters, programmers, information brokers, and, yes, librarians can all be taught under the same theoretical umbrella. The interactions of students on different career tracks can be a positive and energizing force within an LIS program.
Librarians lament the lack of skills training, but theory is, and must remain, central to LIS. According to Fallis and Fricke, a librarian requires a theoretical graduate-level education, in addition to specific skills.
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.
The presupposition of Preparing for a Career by Derek Bok indicates that vocational majors and liberal arts major should merge to help students prepare for their career. Bok states that vocational college only prepare students for the future, but does not teach students the basic knowledge such as U.S history, English, reading and how to think critically and understand what one’s learning. The three archetypes that exemplify what college should do to help students develop intellectual breadth and lifelong learning skills are to combine the vocational and the liberal arts majors together, give students opportunities to build connections in their major, and instructors should give student feedback about their work and what other employers
From my perspective as a library graduate student, however, my attention was drawn to the section titled "Library School is Revolting." This collection of essays explores questions such as "Are we really learning the practical skills necessary to be librarians, such as public relations and professional writing?" and "Is accreditation really a big deal?" While I felt fortunate that some of the not-so-subtle digs at library schools didn't really apply too heavily to SIRLS, some of it is familiar enough to make you laugh (or cry).
Gallik, Stephen. "Spectrophotometry: Transmittance and Absorbance." Cell Biology OLM. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
Whistleblowing is extremely risky business, not just within the United Nations but in any place where governments and corporations have something to hide. It can also cause deep anguish to the whistleblower. In his book called Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power, C. Fred Alford, a Professor of Government at the University of Maryland, College Park, provides a chilling and deeply pessimistic account of whistleblowers who have exposed corruption in high places.
The focus of this report is to compare the structure of Trinity College Library and The Hive.
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 ...
Being literate does not only mean that you understand to read and write. I believe that it’s a way you take advantage of what is given to you. Having the power to understand and acknowledge what is being said and read gives and great advantage of literacy. Graduating with honors from my senior class has given me greater self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment .Now being literate has given me great opportunities such as coming to college and given hope that we can do anything in this world
Whistleblowing is the deed, usually done by an employee of a company, of drawing concern or creating awareness of unethical or illegal behaviour within the corporation to a higher authority or to the public. Whistleblowing can take place internally or externally. Internal whistleblowing is when an employee bypasses an immediate supervisor and reports the issue to a superior level of administration. This type of whistleblowing is kept within the firm whereas external whistleblowing occurs when an employee exposes the wrongdoings of a company to external sources such as the press or law enforcements. There is also a distinction between acknowledged and anonymous whistleblowing. Anonymous whistle-blowing occurs when the whistleblower keeps their identity concealed to protect themselves and their relatives from the consequences put on by the company while acknowledged whistleblowers are willing to withstand the accusations of disloyalty along with the consequences brought on by the company by putting their name behind their deed of whistleblowing.
Also, democratic societies aim to achieve the greatest general happiness. Notwithstanding, there is a great deal of consequences that a whistleblower faces. The ethical theory of utilitarianism details the moral dilemma of whistleblowers due to the fact that it connects with the approach of greatest good for the greatest amount of people. For whistle-blowers employer’s illicit activities affect the society as a whole in some way, shape or form and this justifies them reporting it.
In 1954, he travelled to Beijing to being peace talks with Mao Tse-tung and other Chinese leaders (Lama, Dalai, pg.1). Unfortunately, the peace talk efforts for a resolution to the Sino Tibetan conflict were not successful due to the China’s policy in eastern Tibet. Those policies lead to an uprising and resistance movement, and spread to different parts of the country. On March 10, 1959, the capital of Tibet, Lhasa becomes invaded by the largest demonstration in Tibetan history; which is called on the withdrawal of China from Tibet, and Tibet’s independence (Lama, Dalai, pg.1). The uprising was defeated by the Chinese army that resulted in the Dalai Lama having to flee to India where he was given political asylum. There were 80,000 Tibetans that followed the Dalai Lama to exile. There are currently 120,000 Tibetans still in exile. Since 1960, The Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamsala, India, and is known as the “Little Lhasa,” The base of the Tibetan Government in exile (Lama, Dalai pg.2). While he was in exile, the Dalai Lama continued to fight for freedom of Tibet by appealing to the United Nations. This had the affect in the adoption of three resolutions by the general assembly in 1959, 1961, and in 1965 that stated that China had to respect human rights of Tibetans and their right for autonomy. The Dalai Lama saw the importance and need to preserve the Tibetans culture while in exile (Lama, Dalai pg. 2). While the Tibetans were in exile they were able to start there agriculture and settlements over again. Their economic development helped them build new education system that was focused on powering Tibetan in refugee with their culture, history and religion. These high learning schools were established in India for Tibetans. There was also various monasteries established that helped to preserve the Tibetan Buddha teachings, and spirit
Whistleblowers are often viewed as heroes of the business world, due to the exposure to the public of unethical practices within companies. While whistleblowing has a bad reputation, it is often encouraged in the work place, due to its benefits. These benefits include, fraud detection, workplace safety, and protecting the workforce as a whole. Along with that, whistleblowing stands as early detections of fraud, or misconduct, within a company, therefor causing an early investigation before these unethical practices spread.
Flexible and quick to adapt, I know that I have the ability to motivate others and myself in this ever-advancing field. My personal experiences in pursuing higher education as a first generation college student have made me no stranger to adversity or creating my own path, qualities I believe add greatly to leaders within librarianship. My commitment to reading, learning, and questioning make me the outgoing and accomplished candidate the University of Washington needs.
Whistleblowing is one of the most delicate constructs of our society, contradicting in ardor and antipathy. Though it has no clear definition regarding morality, it is most basically defined as a person who provides information on an illegal, immoral, or harmful activity being performed by an organization or government. Whistleblowing can fall anywhere from heroic to the highest federal crime in America. Though many laws, dating back to 1777, have been put in place to protect whistleblowers, many have their jobs taken away, personal lives destroyed, and have even gone to prison. The cause of such hypocrisy could be the highly subjective nature of the deed. Whistleblowing is an action that is hard to delineate as crime or benevolence due to
The world is at your fingertips with the internet, you can do anything imaginable. It is the schools duty to have the internet, forget the library, I’m sure students would agree with me that using the internet would be much easier to find the information you are looking for than the library. If you don’t know how to use the internet then you are missing out, anything you want is on there. The internet alone could be a career, there are online businesses that make just as much money as jobs outside your home.