[video]
“Children’s librarians not only influence children in their formative years, they open doors for curious minds. Our future depends upon the children’s room. Our power lies in creating learning spaces, influencing lives, and creating community. Our children are our gifts to the world, and the way we care for them says everything about our values as a culture.
You may not realize it, but you have the power to transform the lives of children, the library, and the community. You have the power to open doors, to nurture ideas and imagination. You have the power to change the shape of our world. You are the architects of dreams.”
love this vision and going to read and return to it regularly.
(via laura-in-libraryland)
Google Framed As Book Stealer Bent On Data Domination In New Documentary | TechCrunch -
“Google And The World Brain” is a new documentary about Google’s plan to scan all of the world’s books, which triggered an ongoing lawsuit being heard today. The hair-raising film sees Google import millions of copyrighted works, get sued, lose, but almost get a literature monopoly in the process. It’s scary, informative, and worth watching if you recognize its biased portrayal of Google as evil.
Add this to the list of documentaries I want to see.
“[Yahoo!] killed a lot of good startups, wasted a lot of engineers’ time, etc. Perhaps I spent too much time inside that particular sausage factory…
I wish I had not sold it to them. The cash and freedom do not even come close; I would rather work on a big, popular product.”
— Delicious Founder Joshua Schachter (via azspot)
(via azspot)
Librarian Revolution: So about the so-called lack of boy stuff in YA -
So I have a lot of feelings every single time I hear that people are “angry” or “annoyed” or whatever that they can’t find ONE SINGLE YA BOOK IN THE ENTIRE YA SECTION FOR BOYS TO READ and YOUNG MEN ARE FAILING BECAUSE GIRLS ARE TAKING OVER…
Laura in Libraryland: Finding a Library Job -
Inspired by a recent /r/libraries post and the fact that my own job search is starting to ramp up, I thought it might be a good idea to keep track of the different websites out there for finding LIS jobs. Speaking of which, LISjobs is now defunct and redirects to INALJ….
If you’re looking for a school library job (which I am) k12jobspot.com has been helpful - it does include all school positions not just library and media though.
Noted for later!
19 feet away from history.
This is the office where I worked in 2007. That’s me on the bottom left corner, hard at work making the Meth Minute 39 series for Frederator Studios ( who were at the time developing a little show you may have heard of called “Adventure Time”).
See that long-haired guy all the way on the right side? That’s David Karp in the preliminary stages of inventing Tumblr. At this point, the only people who had heard of Tumblr are in the room. A lot can happen in 6 years! But don’t worry, everyone… he knows why we all love Tumblr and he’s not going to let it get ruined! I got a feeling.Awesome.
Where were you in 2007?
“The way we try to recruit girls into STEM fields is all wrong. We typically compare them to some great woman or someone that has gone before them. We are saying, “Hey, you can be like Madam Curie or Sally Ride.” It is recruiting by intimidation. We need to change that message. We need to recruit by appealing to WHY we need them in STEM. We NEED you to help make the world a better place We NEED you to help discover the cure for cancer. We NEED you because you have the ability to change the course of humanity for the better.” —
Tim Holt on why we still see the number of females in STEM fields fall way behind their male counterparts. Also see how geography paved the way for women in science.
It’s true the amount of popular female scientists and researchers is comparatively lacking - but having a solid role model shouldn’t be the only motivating factor in young girls pursuing STEM fields. A recent Smithsonian Magazine article revealed that 49% of female STEM college students say they chose their field because of a desire to make a difference, compared with34% of male STEM students, andthere arejust as many women are pursuing STEM fields as undergraduates - but once they graduated college, 73.2% of science and engineering jobs were held by men.
I did not pursue a STEM degree as an undergraduate because I did not think there was any room left for individual input, interpretation, or creative control. Obviously now I see how absolutely incorrect that thinking is, but what that has taught me is this: if high school graduates see these fields as stagnant and unappealing spoon-feedings of rudimentary knowledge, we desperately need to change how work in the field is presented. We need to emphasize the need for creativity and innovation. And I don’t think there’s any argument that young women aren’t fully capable of being able to do this, but we have to keep them in the workforce. The truth is, ladies, that your inclination to join the field in the hope that you can make a difference or even change the world is absolutely accurate. That is exactly the kind of motivating self-initiative that the world needs.
Smithsonian Magazine’s: Infographic: Where a STEM Education Can Take You
(via thebrainscoop)
(Source: explore-blog, via libralthinking)
Gary Pruitt, in his first television interviews since it was revealed the Justice Department subpoenaed phone records of AP reporters and editors, said the move already has had a chilling effect on journalism. Pruitt said the seizure has made sources less willing to talk to AP journalists and, in the long term, could limit Americans’ information from all news outlets.
Pruitt told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the government has no business monitoring the AP’s newsgathering activities.
“And if they restrict that apparatus … the people of the United States will only know what the government wants them to know and that’s not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment,” he said.
A lawsuit has not been ruled out, but next moves haven’t been decided as of yet.
Report: Yahoo board OKs deal to buy Tumblr for $1.1 billion | PCWorld -
Yahoo’s board of directors has approved spending $1.1 billion in cash to buy popular blogging site Tumblr, according to The Wall Street Journal.
We shall see….
But read along for the comment thread, Rosenblum’s included.
This. Also, this:
I guess the real question is, why are these articles being written by the same kind of author over and over again? Why is it almost always a rich, white man who is so ensconced in his own world that he can’t imagine what life is like for the 99%? Why must we constantly recycle these “The Library is DEAD!” articles? What is the appeal? How can we get our devoted library patrons to be published in the Huffington Post and New York Times? Or is it that we simply aren’t concerned with the opinions of people of color, the middle and lower-class, the academics and scholars, the elderly, the under-resourced, the immigrants, the small business owners, the youth of our city, and the homeless?
I’ve been wondering this myself: why is it that so many rich white guys seem so offended by the idea of a library? And why do periodicals keep repeating their tired arguments?
Anyone who has been to a library at 4:00 pm on a Saturday cannot possibly think that libraries are dead.
Anyone who has stood in line before closing, or been one of a hundred holds on an item, or who has signed up to use a computer because the lab is full? They’re not lamenting the demise of libraries, either.
They’re using library services instead of debating the relevancy of a “warehouse full of books” that for some reason enables people they don’t want to hear to get on the Internet.
Or maybe they genuinely don’t get it. I waver as to the most likely answer, but if it’s the latter, what can we do to fix this that we’re not already doing?
(via librarean)
14-year-old Discovers Potential Heart Risk From iPad2 -
If someone you know has a pacemaker and an iPad, they should read this.
By the numbers, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy is hard to fathom. The so-called super storm swept through eight states, killing 159 people and causing $70 billion in damage.
From power outages to flooded streets, the hurricane exposed…
Apple vs. Google vs. Microsoft: One Platform Will Not Rule Them All | TIME.com -
There are narratives circling the technology industry that are wearing out their welcome. The primary one is the narrative that there can only be one winner.
Hey! If you have any awesome stories about how libraries changed your life OR if you know someone, have them submit to this Tumblr. Energy going into positivity is awesome and I will always support it!
