About
Library Juice was
founded by Rory Litwin, who worked as a reference librarian and is now a small
press publisher. The group of bloggers at Library
Juice focus “on the intersections of libraries, politics, and culture”
(About, 2007). Their topics include
·
Information as a public good
·
Print culture, web culture, visual culture and
the meaning of literacy
·
The state of the library profession
·
Information policy
·
Social infrastructures
Favorite Posts
Melissa Morrone talks about a visit to the Interference Archive in Brooklyn, NY,
which “explores the relationship between cultural production and social
movements” (Our Mission, n.d.). In the post, she talks about the members’
journey to creating this archive and their current struggles.
Melissa Morrone talks about Mariam Ghani and Chitra Ganesh
and their exhibit called Index of the
Disappeared. The Index of the
Disappeared is “both a physical archive of post-9/11 disappearances—detentions,
deportations, renditions, redactions- and a platform for public dialogue around
related issues” (Index of the Disappeared, n.d.). Although this is a rather
brief blog post, it contains many interesting and informative links.
About
The Information Activist Librarian is the brainchild of Dr.
Anthony Molaro, an Assistant Professor for the MLIS program at St. Catherine
University. He explores topics such as the digital divide, information
activism, and transliteracy.
“My mission is to inspire and nurture a
generation of imaginarians and information activists whose deepest desire is to
create an environment where library members can explore and discover their
world, relate and connect to their community, develop and foster their
identity, grow and expand their mind, and find and inspire their creativity.” –
Anthony Molaro (About, n.d.)
Favorite Posts
This post talks about the lack of entrepreneurial spirit in
libraries and the LIS profession. Molaro explains that there is a reason that
the majority of library vendors and products are not developed by librarians. Instead
of complaining about products not being up to par, Molaro urges LIS
professionals to take control by being more innovative and creating new
opportunities.
In this post, Molaro tells of a recent experience where he
witnessed a library patron become embarrassed after overhearing a group of
librarians openly criticizing a particular book at a local book awards
ceremony. He goes on to urge LIS professionals to remember their manners and to
never make a reader feel ashamed of their reading interests. Molaro references
Ranganathan’s second and third laws of library science to solidify his point.
This post intrigued me because I never thought of a negative
social stigma acting as a restriction to the access of a specific book. As LIS
professionals, we should be encouraging our communities to read, not telling
them what they “should” read. Providing judgment-free service should be
something that all LIS professionals keep in mind whether they are in the
workplace or not.
Molaro discusses the difference between customer service and
the customer experience. According to Molaro, customer service is dealing with
customers’ problems, while the customer experience is how the customer views
and feels about an organization as whole. Although Molaro does not specifically
connect this topic to the LIS world, I think the concept of customer experience
is something that libraries and information centers should think about and aim
to improve.
References
About. (n.d.). The
Information Activist Librarian. Retrieved from
http://informationactivist.com/about/
About. (2007).
Library Juice. Retrieved from
http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?page_id=2
Our Mission.
(n.d.). The Interference Archive. Retrieved from
http://interferencearchive.org/our-mission/
Index of the Disappeared – Documents + Documentation. (n.d.)
Retrieved from
http://www.kabul-reconstructions.net/disappeared/
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