#Library science

[mydirtyvalentine]

pretty normal podcast listening experience i think,

[nerd-brarian]

A nice librarian gave me this and I really like it.

[archeracy]

“Kids and teens have no third spaces these days!!!”

Before you go to Starbucks or other corporations who want to co-opt the term “third place” and make you become more consumerist, consider:

Are you making full, effective use of your public library?

This is especially true if you live in a big city. I know going to a store or mall is the most tempting third place. But go to the library. Find out what the library has available to you. I live in a major metropolitan area, and my local library offers books, e-books, and audiobooks to library card-holders, but also: sewing machines, 3D printers, recording studio space, individual study space, group study space, an auditorium hall, and conference rooms! Not to mention a website where you can use your library login to log in to ADDITIONAL websites that teach you valuable skills or crafts, or read research journals for free!

If you don’t live in a densely populated area and your local library has less of those things, you better go there and start asking about it. Because librarians WANT you to use their services. They WANT to stock up the library with loads of books and services, but they need the foot traffic and continued requesting to get the ball rolling.

You can also ask about donating things to the library! My library, despite its numerous riches, does not have a laminator. But I guarantee you if someone donated it, they would be eager to let people know they can use it. If you have a tool or machine you don’t use, find out if a library would make better use of it!

[thefearofcod]

Had a bad idea: books organized by Dewey classification but the numerals are arranged alphabetically

[determinate-negation]

It became a little more difficult to study the history of Palestine and Israel on January 21, 2019, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a new amendment to the archive law extending the classification period for certain materials from 70 to 90 years. The extension includes the archives of Shin Bet (the domestic intelligence service), Mossad (the foreign intelligence service), the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, the Israel Institute for Biological Research and an array of military units collecting “raw intelligence material.”1 The complete list of the military units is not even available, since it too has been classified. In other words, even what is classified is classified.

The government is extending the period of classification at the same time that Israel’s Ministry of Defense is aggressively expanding the kinds of materials under its purview—effectively removing them from public view. A recent exposé by the Israeli NGO Akevot: Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research revealed that officials from the Ministry of Defense have been conducting unannounced visits to a number of non-official archives—like those of the kibbutz movement—and confiscating what they argue are classified documents that should not have been stored there. Even those documents that have long been used by scholars may suddenly disappear without notice. A former top official at the ministry did not even bother to hide the purpose: to discredit historians working on topics the state deems sensitive by insinuating that they falsified documents.

These new restrictions on the public availability of certain archives are part of a much longer history of Israel seeking to control the stories historians tell about its past. The chief Israeli archivist admitted as much in a rare moment of candor in January 2018, noting that choices of what to declassify sometimes involve “an attempt to conceal part of the historical truth in order to build a more convenient narrative,” particularly those materials that might “incite the Arab population” or “be interpreted as Israeli war crimes.”

[refulgently-transcendental]

Bachelors degree: *purchases an expensive and large standing desk to do homework at*

Masters degree: couch

[shitacademicswrite]

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Feral Friday!  

Today we’re highlighting another gem from our zine selection, Decolonizing Library Science by Archivist (and former, long-time UWM Special Collections Graduate Intern) Keahi Ka’iwalani Adolpho. Created on the eve of the 2016 edition of Milwaukee Zine Fest while they were a student in the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) graduate program at UW-Milwaukee, this zine offers up a compelling reflection on Adolpho’s personal experience as a “non-binary, queer, hapa (mixed Native Hawaiian)” academic and a glimpse into their early research and critiques concerning MLIS graduate education and the field of Library Science as a whole.  

Decolonizing Library Science underlines the importance of rigorous internal critique in the interest of creating truly inclusive institutions and serves as a great example of the power of unregulated, independently, and accessibly produced publications like zines to provide a platform for underrepresented voices and perspectives. And we love the shoutout to the treasures of the Little Free Libraries in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee at the end!

In addition to their work in Archives and Special Collections, Adolpho is currently a member of the Homosaurus editorial board and co-edited Trans and Gender Diverse Voices in Libraries, which was published by Library Juice Press in 2023. They also co-created the Diversity Residency Toolkit as part of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Residency Interest Group. Their research interests include trans and gender diverse inclusion in libraries and archives, reparative and ethical metadata, and diversity residencies.  

--Ana, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

have a meme from grad school that i don't remember making

[paintedpigeon1]

Are you an adult with ADHD and/or autism?

I’m currently doing a Master's dissertation about how to improve access to public library services for adults with ADHD and/or autism, and I need your input!

If you are over 18, have ADHD and/or autism (edit for clarity: no matter where you live), and would like to help with this, please fill in the survey below by midnight on 8 August 2024.

For more information please contact me on ruth.collard-stayte@city.ac.uk

Even if you're not eligible, please share this post so I can receive as many responses as possible!

(Also you don't want to disappoint the cute brain on the flyer do you?)

[californiastatelibrary]

California State Library School, class of 1919. These 10 women are studying on the fourth floor of the State Capitol building, which also housed the State Library until the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts building was finished in 1928.

[andaustinbutler]

love a supportive boyfriend <3

[minilibrarian]

Read this before bed the other night and loved loved loved it 🤍

[ravings-of-a-mad-scientist]

Are any Fields with “Science” in their Name Actually Sciences?

Military Scientist: It’s called “military science” because we apply the scientific method and rigor to military problems. For instance: how many artillery shells are needed to make sure those guys over there are either very dead or are deaf and have crippling PTSD? We’ll just run an experiment to make a formula for that. I got a PhD in this!

Political Scientist: I mean, we TRY to use a more rational scientific approach to politics. Like what policies actually work and which ones just sound like they work. Of course it’s the policies that sound good that actually get the votes so no one really listens to us but y’know

Computer Scientist: I’m not entirely sure if it’s really a science since we made most of this stuff up in the first place, it’s more like engineering, but it sounds cool. Computer science!

Library Scientist: *sighs* Yes, library science is a social science and all the social sciences are sciences, and so are the formal sciences like computer science. You could have easily looked this up. Now, SHHH!

Citizen Scientist: I’m not a real scientist, but I’m doing science!

Mad Scientist: So what if I don't have a real degree? So what if I don't use controls, or the scientific method, or even write anything down?? Neither did Frankenstein! Isn't mental illness and a lab coat enough?!

Christian Scientist: Yeah, I’m definitely not a real scientist. We’re the prayer warrior people. It sounded cool back when science was new, I guess, idk.

Scientist: The heck, this isn't the VShojo convention?

[kaia-jgerber]

[determinate-negation]