scholarly journals Why intellectual freedom? Or; Your values are historically contingent

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-28
Author(s):  
Caitlin Ratcliffe
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Intellectual Freedom ◽  
A Value ◽  
Library And Information Studies ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
Systematized Review ◽  
Politics And Education

AbstractIntellectual freedom is a cornerstone value of library and information studies (LIS) in the twenty-first century. However, LIS institutions have not always held intellectual freedom with the significance it has today. Historic analysis situates the development of intellectual freedom in the context of the European Enlightenment. This systematized review analyzes the use of the phrase “intellectual freedom” in primary sources from the mid-eighteenth century until the American Library Association (ALA) published the Library’s Bill of Rights in 1939 in order to examine the historic origins and development of intellectual freedom as a shared cultural value prior to 1939. I consider the development of intellectual freedom from two perspectives: as a shared value that developed in Britain and the United States during the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries and as a meaningful phrase found in primary sources regarding religion, politics, and education. By contextualizing the origins of intellectual freedom with Enlightenment values and discourse, it is hoped this study will illustrate the fundamental nature of intellectual freedom as a value within LIS philosophy and contribute to the conversation about intellectual freedom as a continually negotiated concept that must be held in balance with social responsibility.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Urban History

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Urban History ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Historical Scholarship ◽  
Specific Subject ◽  
Multiple Audiences ◽  
The Subject

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Urban History synthesizes three generations of urban historical scholarship, providing a thematic and chronological overview of American urban history from the pre-Columbian era until the beginning decades of the twenty-first century. The 92 articles collected here describe and analyze the transformation of the United States from a simple agrarian and small-town society to a complex urban and suburban nation. Each essay has been authored, peer-reviewed, and edited by scholars expert in the field, offering a reliable, historiographically informed examination of a specific subject in American urban history. The encyclopedia differs from previous publications by providing semi-structured, synoptic articles ranging from 6,000 to 8,000 words or more. The articles are divided into three parts: 1. an accessible narrative overview of an important issue in American urban history; 2. a brief historiographical summary of significant writers and publications on the subject; and 3. a short introduction to essential primary sources. This tri-part format allows each article to serve multiple audiences: those who simply want an informed an intelligent introduction to a given topic; those interested in identifying the leading publications on a specific subject; and those interested in performing detailed research on the topic at hand.

The establishment of an e-learning program for the master of library science degree at Southern Connecticut State University – case analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 211-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josephine Yu Chen Sche
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Library Science ◽  
State University ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Professional Goals ◽  
Science Degree ◽  
Library And Information Studies ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
E Learning

ALA-accredited programs for Master of Library and Information Studies, are offered only in 63 of the total 3000 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The professional goals and objectives of the current 2008 Accreditation Standards are highlighted and applied to both traditional on-campus and the newly created eLearning courses for the MLS/MLIS programs. Factors for establishing the MLS eLearning program at SCSU and the methods for quality control and assessment of the MLS online courses are explained.

scholarly journals Teaching Information Ethics in Higher Education: A Crash Course in Academic Labour

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 4-9
Author(s):  
Toni Samek
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Information Ethics ◽  
Intellectual Freedom ◽  
The North ◽  
Library And Information Studies ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Actual Teaching ◽  
Teaching Information

This article builds on several prior informal publications that delve into my experiences teaching a course on intellectual freedom and social responsibility in librarianship in the context of the North American library and information studies curriculum. Here, I extend those discussions into a deeper exploration of the academic labour that frames conditions for teaching information ethics. While the intellectual freedom and social responsibility in librarianship subject matter represents only one narrow slice of the bigger information ethics pie, the actual teaching of it sheds light on more universal instructor immersion in contestations over internationalization of higher education, the contingent worker model, the meaning of global citizenship education and research, and academic freedom in the 21st century. This focused lens takes in how the working conditions of faculty are the learning conditions of students, as well as how some of the ill practices explored in information ethics (e.g., censorship) can also be apparent in the institutions in which it is taught. Thus, this article recognizes the political context of information ethics within the academy, a place undergoing redefinition in academic visions and plans designed to push faculty, staff and students harder in global competitions for university rankings.

The “Japanese Turn” in Fine Dining in the United States, 1980–2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-54
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Yamashita
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
San Francisco Bay Area ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Further Training ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Wide Acceptance

In the 1970s, Japanese cooks began to appear in the kitchens of nouvelle cuisine chefs in France for further training, with scores more arriving in the next decades. Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, Joël Robuchon, and other leading French chefs started visiting Japan to teach, cook, and sample Japanese cuisine, and ten of them eventually opened restaurants there. In the 1980s and 1990s, these chefs' frequent visits to Japan and the steady flow of Japanese stagiaires to French restaurants in Europe and the United States encouraged a series of changes that I am calling the “Japanese turn,” which found chefs at fine-dining establishments in Los Angeles, New York City, and later the San Francisco Bay Area using an ever-widening array of Japanese ingredients, employing Japanese culinary techniques, and adding Japanese dishes to their menus. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, the wide acceptance of not only Japanese ingredients and techniques but also concepts like umami (savory tastiness) and shun (seasonality) suggest that Japanese cuisine is now well known to many American chefs.

On "Diversity" as Anti-Racism in Library and Information Studies: A Critique

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David James Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Dominant Mode ◽  
Specific Exercise ◽  
Critical Information ◽  
Racial Formations ◽  
Library And Information Studies ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
Library Studies ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Diversity Discourse

Drawing on a range of critical race and anti-colonial writing, and focusing chiefly on Anglo-Western contexts of librarianship, this paper offers a broad critique of diversity as the dominant mode of anti-racism in LIS. After outlining diversity's core tenets, I examine the ways in which the paradigm's centering of inclusion as a core anti-racist strategy has tended to inhibit meaningful treatment of racism as a structural phenomenon. Situating LIS diversity as a liberal anti-racism, I then turn to diversity's tendency to privilege individualist narratives of (anti-)racism, particularly narratives of cultural competence, and the intersection of such individualism with broader structures of political-economic domination. Diversity's preoccupation with demographic inclusion and individual behavioural competence has, I contend, left little room in the field for substantive engagement with race as a historically contingent phenomenon: race is ultimately reified through LIS diversity discourse, effectively precluding exploration of the ways in which racial formations are differentially produced in the contextually-specific exercise of power itself. I argue that an LIS foregrounding of race as a historical construct - the assumption of its contingency - would enable deeper inquiry into the complex ways in which our field - and indeed the diversity paradigm specifically - aligns with the operations of contemporary regimes of racial subordination in the first place. I conclude with a reflection on the importance of the Journal of Critical Information and Library Studies as a potential site of critical exchange from which to articulate a sustained critique of race in and through our field.

Towards an Archival Critique: Opening Possibilities for Addressing Neoliberalism in the Archival Field

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marika Cifor ◽  
Jamie A. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Archival Studies ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Library And Information Studies ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
Contemporary Life

Neoliberalism, as economic doctrine, as political practice, and even as a "governing rationality" of contemporary life and work, has been encroaching on the library and information studies (LIS) field for decades. The shift towards a conscious grappling with social justice and human rights debates and concerns in archival studies scholarship and practice since the 1990s opens the possibility for addressing neoliberalism and its elusive presence. Despite its far-reaching influence, neoliberalism has yet to be substantively addressed in archival discourse. In this article, we propose a set of questions for archival practitioners and scholars to reflect on and consider through their own hands-on practices, research, and productions with records, records creators, and distinct archival communities in order to develop an ongoing archival critique. The goal of this critique is to move towards "an ethical practice of community, as an important mode of participation." This article marks a starting point for critically engaging the archival studies discipline along with the LIS field more broadly by interrogating the discursive and material evidences and implications of neoliberalism.

Minting the Obverse: Library and Information Studies as a One-Sided Coin

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Gorichanaz
Keyword(s):  
Professional Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Research Department ◽  
Library And Information Studies ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
Key Concepts

A synthesis of the work of Michael Buckland reveals the critique that, for too long, LIS has been a one-sided coin. Growing out of professional education, LIS has traditionally nurtured only its applied, practical and empirical side. Challenging this imbalance, emerging research in LIS points to the development of the basic, liberal arts and conceptual side of the discipline. Indeed, the advent of JCLIS reflects this trend. An interest in basic LIS is welcome for a number of reasons: By clarifying key concepts, it will lead to improved practice; by contributing more widely to human knowledge it will fulfill the obligations of being an academic research department; and by exploring information issues which are becoming relevant to all members of society, it will realize a greater purpose. This paper surveys the extent to which the basic side of LIS has emerged, examining the content of the top LIS journals and the curricula of the top LIS institutions. The findings point to an inchoate reverse, but one with numerous challenges that remain beyond the horizon. This paper serves as an invitation to researchers and educators to consider how they can further contribute to minting the basic side of the coin of LIS.

Integration of Digital Preservation Knowledge, Skills and Competencies in the Teaching Curricula of Library and Information Studies at the University of Botswana

Mousaion ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thatayaone Segaetsho ◽  
Julie Moloi
Keyword(s):  
Digital Preservation ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
University Of Botswana ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Teaching Content ◽  
Library And Information Studies ◽  
Information Studies ◽  
The University

In the past few decades, digital technology has found a place in the acquisition, arrangement, description, preservation, and dissemination of information. However, heritage institutions are perturbed by the challenges of digital preservation strategies particularly for education. Despite continuous investment in digital preservation, there are limited skilled professionals to equip learners with the knowledge, skills and competencies required to drive digital preservation in Botswana. Therefore, this paper investigated the knowledge, skills and competencies related to digital preservation in the teaching curricula of the Department of Library and Information Studies (DLIS) at the University of Botswana. Data collection was done through intensive structured interviews with specific educators who teach courses on digital preservation in the archives and records management stream. The study revealed that despite the fact that the educators in preservation courses are aware of current trends in digital preservation, most of them have not obtained formal degree certification specific to digital preservation. The findings further revealed that minimal digital preservation competencies are observed in the teaching curricula. A significant number of challenges observed illustrated mainly a lack of resources and limited skills in terms of practical demonstrations by educators. The curricula mostly lacked clarity on long-term and short-term digital preservation. The study recommends that DLIS and other institutions should conduct surveys or curriculum auditing on digital preservation in order to improve the teaching content. A significant number of shortcomings regarding digital preservation that could motivate further studies are also discussed under the conclusion and recommendations section of this study.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document