LSJ Editors’ Blog

Library Student Journal believes that in many ways the average LIS student today understands the average user better than does the average LIS professional. We have new and exciting ideas. We see information needs in new places (and new worlds). We can, and should, make a vital contribution to the LIS field while we are still students.

Do you have a colleague who is doing innovative research? Have you met someone at a conference whose blog you read daily because it inspires you to think in new ways? Has a classmate come up with a creative new way to address a current problem in your local library?

If so, we want to hear about these people!

To nominate an emerging leader, please send us the following:
1. Full name, school affiliation and email address, of nominee.
2. Reason for nomination. Try to be as specific as possible - which project, event, concept makes this person an emerging leader.
3. Your full name, affiliation and email address.
Send your nomination to librarystudentjournal [at] gmail [dot] com, and be sure to put “Nomination” in the subject line.

We want to hear about students who are doing something!

The special issue will appear in April 2008.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Cheers everyone!
amy

Do librarians have a responsibility to protest banned books?

Are there any books that ought to be banned?

Post a comment and let me know whatcha think.

amy

P.S. My update about my glorious 36 hours in Boston and my visit to Simmons College will be up soon.

Anyone interested in the health information/informatics/librarianship field might find useful this video created by Eugene Barsky, University of British Columbia Physiotherapy Outreach Librarian: Mastering for Health Information: the Very Quick Guide.

Eugene maintains the UBC Physio Info-blog, an excellent source of information for anyone interested in not just physiotherapy information but health information in general. According to Eugene:

This blog mandate is to: 1) Discuss physiotherapy informatics with an emphasis on Evidence-Based Practice; 2) Present new physiotherapy information (focus on BC and Canada); 3) Encourage comments and information sharing among physiotherapists; and 4) Encourage international collaboration

Other recent posts include: New Audiocast >> Evidence Based Practice - Step 2 - Appraising the Evidence: How do I know the article is any good? How to appraise the literature (Quantitative articles – practical session) and Evaluating the professional libraries of practicing physical therapists.

A New York Times article yesterday discussed the Diary of Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive, which appears sporadically on the British Library website. According to the Times:

For a month now, Dr. Eskander’s intermittent diary entries have been appearing on the Web site of the British Library (bl.uk/iraqdiary.html), and they detail the daily hurdles of keeping Iraq’s central library open, preserving the surviving archives and books and, oh yes, staying alive…. Working to replace rare books and documents that have been destroyed, Dr. Eskander has been in touch with the British Library ever since the Iraq Library and Archive was burned and looted in 2003 when Mr. Hussein’s regime fell. The British Library is trying to send another shipment of microfilm and books, Ms. Finlayson said, although, she added: “Our contact is quite sporadic — it’s difficult to get material there. It’s hard for him to keep in touch.”

The journal details the unimaginable difficulties of operating a library in times of war. Here is an excerpt from Dr. Eskander’s most recent entry:

I was informed on the same day that two of our technicians were kidnapped by unknown armed men in Al-Ghazaliya area. Fortunately, both were realised unharmed, thought they were verbally abused. Mr. C, the head of the Restoration Laboratory, received a death threat. He and his family left their house. I visited the Restoration Laboratory. It was hit by 5 bullets. Two windows were broken as a result. One of the restorers told me that her brother was murdered ten days a go for sectarian reasons. Another restorer told me that he cousin, who lived in Mosul, in northern Iraq, was also murdered for sectarian reasons. I did not know about these two incidents. I discovered that a number of my staff do not inform the administration about their ordeals for fear of reprisals.