Librarian-less libraries, COVID-19, and stories from the archives
This week's newsletter will summarize a new review of libraries in popular culture, focus on COVID-19, and note relevant library and archives news. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! Even though many of you are likely in self-quarantine after everything has been shut down, I hope you are doing well, regardless. For this week’s newsletter, most of what I have brought together is related to COVID-19.
Before that, I’d like to share another one of my reviews of animated shows, this time focusing on libraries (part of my libraries in popular culture series), similar to my post couple weeks ago which focused on three portrayals of archives in popular culture. Anyway, I write about how time and time again there are librarian-less libraries, meaning that libraries are settings for characters but no librarians are ever shown as characters. On the one hand, this could be positive because it could eliminate the possibility of stereotypes which are rampant in media representations of the library field. On the other hand, it gives the impression that these libraries function without librarians, which is wholly and completely incorrect! In any case, of all the shows that I looked at, Cleopatra in Space wins out as having the best portrayal of libraries of any show I’ve seen to date, even including a line where a character says the cool students are those that hang out at the library (which is true). More reviews are forthcoming!
Moving onto COVID-19, let’s start with the archives field. NARA created a webpage about the coronavirus, noting the agency’s response to this pandemic. Additionally, the SAA Council released a statement about the impact of COVID-19 on archives workers, recommending that public-facing facilities be closed, adding that the labor of archivists is “not more important than the health of the people doing that work.” They also state that remote work should be encouraged, and add that the SAA has created a resources page on the topic, saying additional resources can be submitted to saahq@archivists.org. There’s also a listing of online SAA Education Courses, with discounts available due to COVID-19.
This brings us to the library field. Hack Library School had some great articles this past week, one which focused on how the public can be served when buildings are closed and another about how COVID-19 can be faced as an information professional. Apart from that, InfoDocket put together a listing of Library-Related Special Event Closings, Cancellations and Updates Due to COVID-19 Concerns, noting all of the institutions currently included at this time. Of course, that number is growing every day.
There has been other news worth sharing as well. Barbara Fister wrote about libraries and the age of algorithms. Margot Note has some great posts about the digital preservation community and access in archives while ArchivesAware! had a post on Dr. Meral Ekincioglu who is researching diversity and underrepresented architecture communities in archives at pioneering schools of architecture in the United States. The latter is relevant as the SAA Council is seeking member comment on proposed revisions to the SAA Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Florida State University’s Digital Library Center just released a new digital collection of records of a League of Women Voters chapter in Tallahassee, including “organization of conventions and meetings, coordination of league activities, and the chapter’s relationship with the League of Women Voters of the United States.” Within these documents are records about the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Florida in the 1970s along with much more. I also enjoyed, this past week, reading about the connection of genealogy and health history (even more relevant with COVID-19), and a post by Joseph Gillette, Archivist at NARA’s College Park facility, about Alcatraz, focusing on the year-and-half occupation by indigenous people which only ended when the last occupants were removed by force on June 11, 1971. Such an occupation is an important part of U.S. history which should not be forgotten.
That’s all for this week. Hope everyone has a great rest of your week! I know I say the same thing every week, but I want to be as optimistic as possible, especially in these trying times that all of those in the U.S. are going through right now. Stay safe everyone and don’t let the coronavirus bite…er, infect you!
- Burkely