Four fictional libraries, the library field, and the importance of archives
This week I'm focusing on a variety of topics, ranging from my series, that examine libraries in popular culture, to news in the archives & library fields
Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a great week. I thought I’d share some articles this week in the library and archives field.
First, let me mention my review of four anime libraries in some of my favorite shows, continuing my libraries in popular culture series. Most of the libraries featured no librarians (a case of libraries but no librarians once again), whether the characters researched or studied there. However one stood apart and featured a librarian: Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. The latter had a stereotype of an old librarian (basically an old white man), but the character was also a medical doctor and was a pretty great character, generally. Those in the floating city called him the sage and he ran a small library atop a spire. Not the best depiction, I know, but it’s better than anything else I’ve seen in a while.
Speaking of libraries, Hack Library School was on fire this past week with various articles. Some focused on black history, while others focused on why libraries shouldn’t be neutral, dressing for success in your LIS career, and an article about grassroots campaign for greater Latin@ inclusion in the U.S. publishing industry called #DignidadLiteraria, meaning #LiteraryDignity in English. Also, the story about how patrons at rural libraries in Maine still look at books through a card catalog, and the progress toward a computerized database, was very interesting.
Coming to archives, I’d like to highlight first and foremost, my twitter thread on the closure of NARA's Seattle facility and much more, highlighting responses to the article I shared in last week’s newsletter. If you haven’t read it, here’s a link. I enjoyed reading about archival description, a person explaining why they love to be an archivist, and NARA’s move toward digital transformation using A.I. as explained by David Ferriero. Another NARA blogpost which fascinated me focused on unratified constitutional amendments. This one was about the protection of slavery, an amendment which was passed through the House and Senate, even signed by the sitting president, supported by Lincoln, but eventually scrapped because of the Civil War. What replaced it was one of the Reconstruction Amendments, the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery except as a punishment for a crime, followed by the vital 14th (abut U.S. citizenship and with the equal protection clause) and 15th Amendments (gives people of any race the right to vote).
That’s all for this week! I hope everyone has a great rest of their week!
- Burkely