Dr. Caroline Edwards describes the origins, motivations, and strategies of the Open Library of Humanities:
“This site aims to give the background to, and rationale for, our vision of building a low cost, sustainable, Open Access future for the humanities.”
“The Smith has for a number of years encouraged volunteering as part of our collections cataloguing and research efforts particularly for those interested in a career in the cultural sector. Volunteers are provided with a basic training in all aspects of curatorial work and set tasks, projects and lecturing opportunities, if time permits.” (Continued in Collections Volunteering.)
Can you just show them the databases? This is a phrase I’ve heard a lot as an instruction librarian.
I’ve thought about it, and the answer is no. I cannot just show them the databases.
Figure 1: An uncertain student encounters the magnitude of academic discourse through a library database.
I cannot “just” show them the databases because there are so many layers of destruction inherent in my process of pointing, clicking, and narrating. I am not demonstrating how students can find a scholarly article, I am demonstrating how profoundly students are marginalized from academic knowledge production. I am not identifying aspects of peer review, I am silencing all non-academic voices–including the students’. I am not modeling good search strategies, I am erasing myself as a teacher.
Databases embody the exclusionary nature of academic discourse. Students are on the outside, in search boxes, using natural language that the database most likely won’t…
View original 2,632 more words
Vieni a scoprire i protagonisti della storia e i più affascinanti simboli della città nel museo più antico al mondo.
(Come to find out the protagonists of history and the most fascinating symbols of the city in the museum oldest in the world.)
