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There are days when I wonder if my profession as a whole has a death wish. Not only do outsiders rail on and on about how libraries need to be closed, how they will "evolve" into new spaces (that have nothing to do with the mission of an actual library), or how no one really needs them, but librarians and library professionals insist on deprofessionalizing their own profession, taking the library apart piece by piece, turn it into an arcade or entertainment center, and pretty much go for the lowest common denominator. Of course, if you mention any of this, and you put your name on it as I am doing now, you risk the ire of your professional brethren who will label you as someone who "does not get it." I am not quite sure what to make of the whole mess. Sure, I have my opinions, but I just don't feel like writing a whole post about it.

I have seen a good number of items that have given me food for thought, so here they go in my notes. Maybe some writing will come out of it, maybe not. But I cannot help but wonder why do my professional brethren insist of self-destruction?

• Two members of ACRL debate about the future of academic libraries, and from the looks of it, take a mild common ground where they toss the ball and say, "who knows what will happen." Not exactly something to inspire confidence. The event is reported by Inside Higher Ed in "Bookless Libraries?" 
• Campus Technology looks at the 21st century library as "A Space to Collaborate." Mostly highlights of a new very elegant digital library in Calgary and a few other places. In other words, an example of what gets done when you have a lot of funding to do it and people who think that electronic will overtake everything else. 
• Here is the Effing Librarian on "The Future of the Library Cafe." He has a way of using jokes and satire to make serious points that I like because often makes issues very accessible to others. This is definitely worth a look. He also has a new advocacy poster to help keep libraries open.
  
• Then again, we need reassurance that "librarians still have vital role in the Web 2.0 era." Good to know that librarians are not headed for the scrap heap and have to start taking Geritol just yet. The article found via Resource Shelf.
  
• And via Inside Higher Ed, here we have another college administrator speaking on "Libraries of the Future" where "the university library of the future will be sparsely staffed, highly decentralized, and have a physical plant consisting of little more than special collections and study areas." Funny how administrators who would never dream of doing our front line work with students are the first ones who want to outsource our librarians and library resources.
  
• Stephen Abrams points to an article in the journal New Review of Academic Librarianship. I have to check to see if we carry the journal, then see if I get around to read it. For now, I am using this note to remind myself. Apparently the issue Abrams mentions deals with the ever present topic of the future of the academic library. 
• And speaking of the short-sighted who want to close libraries, there are these folks in Omaha. Found via LISNews, where they have some comments.
  
• And in the quest to make unlibraries (to borrow Effing Librarian's term), the Annoyed Librarian tells us that "Something's Gotta Give." AL also tells us that "the future is now" in the context of school libraries getting rid of book collections for e-books or other online access rental.
  
• Jessamyn West has some thoughts on the Cushing Academy (aka as the school library that got rid of its book collection). A lot of comments over there. Another response on the topic at PhiloBiblos blog.
  

There are other things out there in the librarian sector of the blogosphere, but I can only take so much at one time. I may keep adding more as I get back in the mood.
 

Once again, I have put aside enough posts on the topic of bad bosses to make a post about it. These are mostly food for thought. I am sure someone could write some substantial post on bad bosses as they related to libraries and library administration, but I personally don't feel like doing it at the moment. A common theme in some of these posts seems to be what can we learn from those bad bosses.

• Lifehacker asks "How Do You Deal with a Bad Boss?" It is an invitation to their readers to comment, but it is also discussing a bit about entitled Working for You Isn't Working for Me. The book may be something to consider reading at some point. A key point here is knowing what it is about your boss that irks or bothers you, then find a way to cope, or as I say, decompress after work. 
• The Effing Librarian tells us to "Prepare for the Scottish Librarian Invasion." It deals with a story of certain library administrators basically deprofessionalizing their staff and a few other boneheaded things administrators tend to do that demoralize their workers. A must read. Effing Librarian also has a short one on why he is a bad librarian. This was one I could identify with, and it has been something I have been wanting to write about. Maybe it goes back the idea I have seen in some circles where, if a librarian expresses little to no interest in a "leadership" position (read: management) due to having bad experiences with management, then he must have a bad attitude. I have pondered a bit of that before, but not sure what else to do with it.
  
• Bob Sutton, one of my favorites on this topic, asks "Do You Learn More From Working for a Bad Boss than a Good Boss?" He is making the point that bad bosses force you to learn about situations and yourself. After all, when the boss is good and all is well, you are not really as reflective. This may be worth some thought. Mr. Sutton also raises a very good question, which I think would make a nice writing prompt for me one of these days: "What is the most important thing you ever learned NOT TO DO from working for a bad boss?"
  
• I saved this piece not so much for anything deep but because it has a draft memo for when you have to convince your boss to let you go to a conference. (via The Liminal Librarian). Then again, if you have to convince your boss why your professional development is important, how it will better serve the organization, and how it is an investment in you as an asset to the organization, then you may have bigger problems.

And for the random reader who may be interested, here are Part 1 and Part 2 of this rambling series.
 

"So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then, I would suggest you allow the 5th of November to pass unmarked."  --V, from the film V for Vendetta.

V for Vendetta is one of my favorite films in the dystopian genre. But it also makes some serious comments on the affairs of bad governments and the people who keep electing them. So, on this November 5th, here is a little something to think about.

Here we go again. This time around, the inspiration for me to do this is that a couple of my colleagues are suggesting that the library make an actual research guide on the topic of "health care management" using the LibGuides system we have in place. I personally have been thinking about making some kind of post on the topic for the library blog, but I think by now the topic is a bit big for just a blog post. In the case of the blog post, I was thinking of providing some general resources and some advice on how to evaluate the resources. Because I think it is easy to find information on the issue. It is also very easy to find a lot of misinformation based on FUD tactics, so people need to not only be informed, but they need to be able to evaluate the claims they find. So, what it may be worth, here is the latest stuff I have found.

• From the American Academy of Actuaries (these are the folks whose job it is to calculate risks and then assess value. For instance, when it comes to insurance, these are the folks who decide who gets rejected, like that baby that was too fat in recent news. If you want a less snarky definition of what is an actuary, you can look here). The report basically suggests costs necessary for starting up a public health option or a health coops option. Links to news release and to the full study. Title of the report is "Federal Health Care Reform 2009: Start-up Capital Costs for Health Care Co-ops and a Public Plan." 
• The Commonwealth Fund, a think tank with an interest in health care issues, has released results of their survey of health care leaders asking them about health care (link to news release; you can get a link to the full survey report at the site).Those surveyed are discussing Medicare and how it can be expanded. One of the reasons to look at Medicare is because it is a U.S. Government program. Yes, it is run by the government, so when certain people gripe about not wanting the government to run their health care insurance, I ask them if they want to give up their Medicare. You can insert the silence and sound of crickets now.
• (Update note: 11/5/09): Just found this. This is the take of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the lobbyists for small businesses, on "The Top 15 Reasons Small Business Oppose H.R. 3962." Before folks buy too deeply into this, may I suggest they go do some reading over at FactCheck? 
• (Update note: 11/9/09): From the Employment Benefit Research Institute, an issue brief on "Sources of Health Insurance and Characteristics of the Insured: Analysis of the 2009 Current Population Survey" (link to executive summary. You can also get the full document on that link). Worth a look.
  

As before, in case the random reader that finds this blog is interested, you can find my previous posts on this topic here, here, here, and here.

In addition, I saved this video on my feed reader's clippings folder. Naturally, this is not something I would give to my students as part of their research, though I would probably still urge them to watch it as an example of how the message is being transmitted. I think we need to be sharing it more because the message is an important

This is just a small link dump of items that can be classified as inspirational that I want to add to my scratch pad here. Some I have read. Others I just clipped to read at some point.

Items via Dumb Little Man (I keep finding interesting things on this blog. Glad I added it to my feed reader):

• "How to Free Yourself from Limiting Beliefs" I may not agree with all of it (at times, there are obstacles you have no control over. You have to learn at times to let things go), but overall, this is a good reading. The exercise is to identify the beliefs that limit you, then break with them.
  
•  On a similar vein, here is "how to stop the raging war inside yourself."
  

Via Mashable:

• "HOW TO: Become an expert in your field." There is stuff on how to keep up as well as how to impart your wisdom onto others.
  
• Here are "five steps to getting unstuck and pursuing your goals." 
• And "5 ways to take control of your brand." This is something students in college about to graduate may want to look at. It deals with managing your reputation, especially online, which is a concern particularly as you are about to go in the job market. This is something I continually work on, my online brand and reputation. 

By Dave Pollard:

• I need to read this one a bit more closely, but for now I am making the note about it here. This is "Intention to Practice." 
• And over here, learn "how to save the world? ask the right questions."
  

From Presentation Zen:

• "Personal Kaizen: 15 Tips for Continuous Improvement." 
• "7Japanese Aesthetic Principles to Change Your Thinking."
• "10 Tips on How to Think Like a Designer."  
• "The Inspiring Jose Abreu and El Sistema." I started watching the video provided in this post, and then a few of the usual work interruptions happened. I need to get back to this sometime.
  

Via Lifehacker:

• This sounds interesting, but I am not sure if I can get away with it. Now, the idea of once in a while just taking some thinking time is very valuable. It is something I wish certain administrators would understand. Here is a suggestion to "take a creative sabbatical to stave off burnout." 
• "Master the 'Why Hire Me' Story to Land a Job." This could also go under job or career advice. This is something I would like to work on, making an "elevator pitch" about myself in case people ask. Reminds me also that I probably should rework the "About" pages on my blogs to make them a bit leaner.
  

I am honestly not sure what to make of this. This webinar, "'Big Challenges (and Opportunities) for Academic Libraries" (see the link here for some details) was something our director pretty much made us watch recently. I honestly expected a lot more given that a reason our director was making us watch it was as a prelude to upcoming work on strategic planning. I was not impressed by the content, and at times I found it a little condescending. Some of the (supposedly) revolutionary ideas they presented were things we have been doing already for years. Even when the boss managed to get through on the phone line to ask a question, asking the "now what?" (after we have done all that) question, we did not get a clear answer. The article by Walton (see citation below), which was the basis of the seminar, was not that much better.

One of my colleagues, who is a recent hire, commented that much of the presentation and article was a "fear" presentation, namely one of those gloom and doom presentations where they speculate about the fall of the library. And there is enough in the article to show that a lot of administrators, including Walton, contrary to his claims, who would not miss the library as we know it were it close tomorrow. Walton may claim he is in touch with libraries, but he is a consortium administrator. He has not been in the trenches for a while. So when he asks a question such as "is a great academic library based primarily in a great collection?" then answers that access is more important than ownership and does not address materials other than to reduce books and print, I have to wonder. Because where I currently work, there is nothing more embarrassing than having a student ask if we have books on X topic only to have to turn them away because we either do not have them (a very likely scenario for certain topics) or we have it as an e-book, in which case they look at you as if you just insulted their parentage (this happens fairly often too, and it will likely keep on happening as we increase electronic holdings in favor of print. Not a choice I really agree with, but I don't make that decision). Walton seems to agree with the assessment from other administrators that "books, except entertainment reading, were eventually going away" (page 90 in the article).And this is just one example. There is a lot in this presentation that seems alarmist and at times a bit overgeneralizing.

For the McCombs segment of the presentation, I just wanted to go down her list and say, "we do that, we do that, we do that other thing, that thing over there did not work," so on. I found it to be nothing more than restatements of the obvious. Allow to use some examples (quotations are from her presentation):
 

• "Created the 24/7 experience." This has been suggested in our campus a few times. It is just not going to happen. Unless there is a major hiring spree of extra staff to keep the library open, security to keep it safe, additional measures to lock down parts of the building, and so on, not happening. Those things cost money for one (something that McCombs did not mention anywhere in the presentation), and while some members of our administration like the idea (mostly because they do not have to stay late hours), in reality, they are not about to cough up funds or resources to make it happen. We don't do this literally, but we get close given our hours, plus the many resources on our website that are online 24/7.
  
• "Develop specific and unique connections with student life." This is one of the reasons my position was created: Outreach Librarian. I am constantly seeking ways to develop those specific and unique connections with student life. From maintaining relationships with campus groups and students to implementing, administering, and maintaining most of the library's 2.0 initiatives, I can say we do that already. Tell me what's next, don't just tell me something I know already. Yes, we do that.
  
• "Seen as innovative technology leaders." It must be nice when your campus (SMU in her case) has the resources to build an information commons or a student multimedia center. We barely managed to convert a conference room into a small practice presentation room for students to use. With significant effort and push by our instruction librarian, we finally got a hands-on teaching classroom for library instruction, a room that we do have to share with at least two other campus organizations (instructional design and interactive television) as part of the Faustian deal. And we had to fight for those things pretty much every step of the way, and let's not even add that the library has no control over a substantial amount of its space. We are working on this, but not easy.
  
• "Strong faculty support." With a few exceptions, this is pretty much non-existent. And it is not for a lack of effort on our part. Our director has put a lot of thought and effort into implementing a librarian liaison program for academic departments. Our librarians strive to work with faculty to meet their needs in various ways, and very often, we are met with derision, indifference (which seems to be the attitude of choice), and/or insults (I have been called incompetent a few times by them, for instance). When I hear that "strong faculty support" is some panacea, I just want to know how do you overcome their overall disrespectful attitudes for openers. Don't just tell me you need to have "strong faculty support." Give me specific steps to build it, or how to work around things when it is lacking. Not everyone works in the same utopian campus where faculty all fawn over the library. Lacking, but to be honest, not our fault.
  
• "Close relationship with central technology support services." Considering that we cannot even get our campus IT people to even make a phone call when they are doing some upgrade to the network or computer systems, I don't think this one is coming any time soon either. I could go on and rant about the many ways IT treats the library as an after thought or a bother, but I have more I need to write about. Lacking, but again, not our fault (communication and common courtesy are a two-way street. This is another thing that I often do not hear from many of these bright-eyed speakers).
  
• "Special Collections involved with faculty for both programming and research support." Our Archivist has been hard at work at this, considering that she has pretty much had to build Special Collections and Archives from the ground up. I think this recent success of hers illustrates very well how our archives department is involved. Yes, we do that.
  
• "Connections with the administrative community." To an extent, this is part of my job as well since I do a lot of the PR work for the library, so I strive to keep the administrative community informed. Our director spends a lot of time working with administrators as well. Yes, we do that.  
• "Do not shy away from the big assignments." Oh really? Our librarians work on various campus committees, and we have done work in things as big as accreditation. A few of the librarians, including myself, were on various committees dealing with the accreditation process. Yes, we do that. 
• "Volunteer." Yes. We do that too. 
• "Create networks of advocacy." Again, part of my job for one, especially in dealing with students. Something our instruction librarian does with her students. Something the archivist does with potential clients, faculty, and campus. So does our director. Yes, we do that. 
• "Be available to represent the university in any number of forums." To the extent this is possible, yes, we do that. 
• "DO NOT WHINE." I may vent, but I do not whine. I, along with colleagues, put my money where my mouth is. I just wish others would do the same. Expressing frustration over a lack that, more often than not, you have no control over, is not whining. Give me your resources, your information commons, and your very supportive faculty, and I will build you castles. I can only work with what I have. Yes, we do (or not do) this too. 

Even Mendoza, who represented a community college, did not tell me much new, and she added to the alarmist tone. Her presentation in terms of suggestions was pretty much fairly similar to McCombs.

So again, I am not sure what to make of this. Maybe I am just not the audience for this presentation since I happen to be pretty well read when it comes to the LIS literature as well as being familiar with the various reports cited like ECAR and OCLC. In this day and age, are there really libraries out there that need to be told this kind of thing? In a way, this was not too different than the times when my school district, back in the days when I was a school teacher, decided to have some teacher in-service day and inflict some "motivational" speaker (who very often had not been in a classroom for ages or not at all) to come tell us how to run our classrooms. So much for change. 

Anyhow, my two cents for what little they may be worth.

Oh, almost forgot, the citation for Walton's article:

Walton, Robert, "'Big' Challenges (and Opportunities) for Academic Libraries." Texas Library Journal (Fall 2009): 88-90.

Update note (10/29/09): Here is a link to the Jim Neal "New Directions" (link to YouTube video) speech that is mentioned in the webinar. Unless you are really curious, don't bother. It's an almost hour and half soporific presentation by an administrator from a large campus (read very well funded) telling the rest of us (who are nowhere near as well funded) what to do. I inflicted it on myself, and I could certainly write a whole post just replying to it, but to be honest, I am a bit tired of this whole affair. Some of us have to actually work for a living.  

This is mostly a small link dump for a post I am may write for our library blog about the Nobel Prizes. In addition to writing about the recent awards announced, I have spotted a couple of items out there that may be of interest as well.

• Here is something on what happens to some of the Nobel laureates who have to go back to work. Just because you won the prize, it does not follow you are rich and get to retire. Far from it. (via Bookninja). 
• From the Nobel website, "What Did the Nobel Laureates Read When They Were Young?" I am thinking that the books listed here would make a good library display as well. (via Resource Shelf).
  

Also, I need to check and see if the winners may have books out or books written about them or their work that we may have in our collection; this information can then be added to the post later as well.

Update note (Same day):

Here are a couple of stories on this year's Nobel laureate in literature, Herta Mueller. A lot of the attitude was "wtf is Herta?" as conveyed by the news stories. I will admit that I had not heard of her, but then again, there are a few other Nobel laureates in literature (and other fields) I had never heard of before I read about them winning the award, and I certainly did not go out of my way to be dismissive. Instead, I wanted to learn more. Why some, especially Americans, feel a need to poo poo an accomplishment like this is beyond me. Seems like a display of ignorance, and then they wonder why the rest of the world has a negative opinion. The stories:

• Literary Saloon has a small summary with links. 
• The Times has a piece on "Why have we never heard of these Nobel authors?" which looks a bit at the judges. 

Being employed means that I work for somebody. Notice I did not say "self-employed." I read someplace that the definition of work is having to do something you would rather not do in some place you would rather not be in the company of people you would rather not be with. Now my current work situation is not that extreme, but as I tell people who ask, some days are better than others. I have recently read a few more items dealing with issues of workplace and management, so I wanted to make some notes here with a bit of quick commentary.

The links:

• Bob Sutton has a great post on "You Better Start Treating Your People Right, or the Best Will Be Leaving Soon." I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Sutton's idea that you have to treat your workers right. It seems horror stories of how corporations treat their workers like cannon fodder abound. The library world is no exception. Just take a peek at the library mofo blog, and you will find a parade of stories of bosses who treat their workers like dirt. Sutton makes a great point, which I would like to quote for my rare reader here: "But if you have treated people like dirt during the tough times (for a horror story, see here), have been inept about how you have implemented tough decisions (see here) or have simply been clueless about your people's perspective during these tough times (see here), you may have been able to keep great people working for you during these tough times and to hire some of the best. You can be sure, however, that they have told their friends about how much your company or you suck.  They are waiting for things to get better, and perhaps encouraged by the signs the labor market is coming back, are probably doing their jobs extra well these days to enhance their reputation for that coming job search.  So you may be fooling yourself into believing all is well when it is not." That last part is something that I can certainly see: your good workers may be just be doing extra well now so you, the boss, can give them a good reference when their time comes to go into the job market. Sure, the economy may be tight, and you can't give raises or financial incentives, but even if you were able to give money, money is not everything if you are treating your employees in a poor manner. Mr. Sutton's post is something every manager, including library administrators, need to read.
  
• There will be times when you could get blamed for something your colleague did. So, here are some things to do "when a colleague's mistakes affect you." Sometimes you may need to help out, but other times you may have to confront, and always remember to protect yourself. This was an old lesson I learned when I first became a public school teacher: document everything, and cover your ass. In essence, no one is going to protect you, so you have to protect yourself. You don't need to brag, but you do need to make your contributions known and clear to the organization. That reality has not changed. (h/t to Lifehacker.) 
• There may also be times when you will be in charge of a team. Or you may have just moved into management. Here is "Motivating Your Team--What to Do (and What to Avoid)." (via Dumb Little Man). 
• When you have a day off, it means a day off. It does not mean you check your e-mail or call the workplace. It is your day, take it off. Period. If you need a reminder of how to take a day off or what to do, here is "How to Really Take a Day Off From the Madness of Life." This is a reminder to take some "me time" now and then. I will admit that I am not as good about taking time off as I should, but when I do, I do unplug completely from work. And when I leave the library at the end of the day, the library stays behind. After all, I do need to keep my sanity. (via Dumb Little Man). 
• Here is more advice to workers: "How to Make Yourself Indispensable at Work." I think that some of the advice in that post is common sense. Unfortunately, for some people, you do have to tell them basic things like minding their manners and acting in a civil manner towards others. The first item on the list is very important: do your job and do it well. Personally, I think that is basically the goal in my life. Thus I hate the classic interview question of "where do you see yourself five years from now?" or some similar question. My answer, the honest answer, is that I want to do be doing my job and doing it well. And before anyone questions me about saying it is my "honest answer," take an honest look at the job interview process. You know both sides will use little white lies now and then during the process. At least, for that question, I tend to be honest because if I get negative feedback on it (namely, I did not lie to them and tell them I want to be a manager or other), I probably don't want to work for them. By the way, I think reading this post goes along nicely with Sutton's post above. (via Dumb Little Man; man, they do put out some good stuff, huh?). 
• Here is another one from Bob Sutton. He is pointing to a Forbes magazine column on getting rid of jackass clients. Up front, I will say that this is not always an option in librarianship. Whether you are in a public library that has to let everyone in (and it usually takes some extreme incident before some jackass gets banned) or an academic library where either some students or certain faculty can display jackass behavior (and you can't really ban them unless the behavior is so egregious it borders on dangerous), you will have to keep a good face and march ahead. This is probably why I will never be a library administrator or manager. I have no tolerance for jackasses or assholes. If I run the library, and you behave like a jackass, you are gone, even if it means I have to call the cops to get you out. Life is too short to deal with jackasses, as Shaun Rein, author of the Forbes piece, points out. Jackasses do damage to your organization. This is very applicable to libraries. If your library develops a reputation of being the place where rude people hang out, where disruptive and loud people are regularly present, and so on, rest assured your best clients will take their business elsewhere. Stop coddling misbehavior in the name of being welcoming or open to all.
  
• I have not had the chance to watch this yet. Dan Pink on "Overcoming the 'Candle Problem' and Rethinking Motivation." (via Lifehacker). 
• And more advice for workers: "9 Qualities That Will Rock Your Career." (via Dumb Little Man). There is some very good advice here on traits that good workers should possess and cultivate.
  
• And as if things were not bad enough, it can be harder to get hired during a recession (but not due to the reasons you may think). The post, via Crooks and Liars, discusses a Wall Street Journal article that says "Only the Employed Need Apply, Companies Say." This caught my eye because some of what is discussed is pretty rampant in the librarian profession. When it comes to hiring, especially as of late, libraries will prefer the most experience possible (even if the job is actually advertised as entry level), and in particular, a lot of libraries will try to cram two or even three job descriptions into one job. As Susie Madrak, writing for Crooks and Liars, says, "the other annoying thing that happens during a recession is that employers start demanding all sorts of unrelated skill sets in one person (figuring they'll get them to do two jobs for the price of one)." Just take a look at some of the library job postings out there. When you see something like desire for cataloger who is fluent in Persian and Farsi, can do library instruction, and supervise student workers, you know they either have an internal candidate already lined up (but they have to advertise the job anyways due to some bureaucratic rule), or they are trying to get one candidate to do three different jobs. In such a case, I think Madrak's advice is good, even if you think turning down the job in this economy is a bad idea: "I'd advise you against taking a job like that even if it's offered - no matter how bad the economy is, it's not worth the heart attack you'll probably get." Or, don't take a library job that sucks, to borrow the term coined by the Annoyed Librarian. 
• A couple more tips from Bob Sutton. First, he points to a cool quiz on "Does Your Work Matter to You?" (link to the quiz itself). Second, he points to the blog Unemploymentality blog. I have to take another look at that blog, maybe add it to my feed reader. 
• From the Anecdote blog, here is "Building a Collaborative Workplace with Stories." It is a presentation you have to view online. 
• The folks from Anecdote also remind us that "Saying Thanks is Important for Collaboration." I say that saying thank you any time it is needed should be a given.
  
• Bob Sutton also has some thoughts on business language that makes him squirm. It makes me squirm too, and the sad thing is I am seeing a lot of that language sneaking up in librarianship. In some cases, it is no longer sneaking up; it is becoming part of the landscape, and no, it is not a good thing. This reminds me a book I read a while ago, that I need to look over again: The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit by Lois Beckwith. 

(Crossposted from my professional blog, The Gypsy Librarian).

I bet my four readers at The Gypsy Librarian were expecting the next installment in my small series on blogging mistakes and library blogs (first installment here). I am taking a break today to highlight a very important issue as well as let my four readers know about some of the good work going on in my campus. Ok, this is kind of to let people know where I was last night too. The series will resume next Friday.

* * * * * * * * *

October domestic violence purple_ribbon

 

October has a few observances associated with it. One of those observances is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (link to President Obama's proclamation). Last night I attended a candlelight vigil held on our campus to recognize the issue of domestic violence and to educate people. The event took place at 7:00pm last night in the fourth floor meeting room of the library. They were going to do it outdoors, but the weather did not cooperate. Nevertheless the event was successful, and from a quick glance, I think we had about 50 people or so. We did get some representatives from our campus police, a very strong Greek presence (ladies and gents), and some students. I was the only representative of the library present. The room's lights were down, and the room was lit with candles. At the entrance, there was a display with educational materials.

The event started with an opening statement by Ms. Samantha Dwight, who among her many hats has done work for the Campus Assault Response Effort (CARE) and is an educator/facilitator/presenter extraordinaire on this and other gender issues. She does a bit of everything, so if she reads this I apologize in advance if I can't quite "put her in a slot." At any rate, she read a statement, including a recognition of the important role that law enforcement officers have in domestic violence prevention. Those men and women in uniform when they get a call never know what they may be walking into. So our thanks go to them.

Next, the ladies of Alpha Chi Omega took the stage and did a dramatic reading. Members of the sorority took turns reading statistics and facts related to domestic violence in the nation. This had a moving effect on the crowd, and we learned a thing or two in the process. The last member on stage sang a song.

The activity would come to an end as a prayer was said for the victims as well as those involved in caring for them as well as for us all. And silently the event closed.

Whenever possible, I think it is important for me to attend events like this. In my role as outreach librarian, this is another way for me to reach out to our campus community, another way for the library to say present and that we support the cause. Personally, I just think this is important and needs to be supported. We have a long way to go in educating people, and events like this are a way to do it.

I would like to wrap this up by offering some links and resources that I hope people will find useful. Please, if you happen to be a victim, or you know someone who is, know that there is help out there. Some of the links will include phone numbers and contacts. On our campus here, the folks at C.A.R.E. are one such resource. Need more information, and you are local, you can contact them, or you can contact me, and I will refer you to the right place or find you the information you may need.

The resources then:

• The Domestic Violence Awareness Project. These are the folks who promote and maintain activities for the observance, which started as an awareness "Day of Unity" back in October of 1981. The Project is coordinated by the National Center on Domestic Violence. You can learn about campaigns, find educational materials, and get links, and phone numbers if you need help. Of course, if you are in imminent danger, dial 911.
  
• The National Coalition on Against Domestic Violence. Among the things this organization does, "the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), in conjunction with Ms. Magazine, started the Remember My Name project in 1994 to create a national registry of names of those who have lost their lives to domestic violence. Since then, NCADV has continued to collect information on incidents of people who have been killed by an intimate partner and produces a poster each year for Domestic Violence Awareness Month listing the names of those submitted to the project. To date, over 7,753 people have been memorialized through the project." Names are added daily to the list, which you can view on the website.
  
• The U.S. Department of Justice has an Office on Violence Against Women. In addition to listing national hotlines, the site contains a lot of good information, including statistics.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a handbook on domestic violence awareness. This seems geared to employers so they can be supportive in the workplace. Provides some good information.
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline. The number is 1−800−799−SAFE (7233) or TTY 1−800−787−3224. Their contact form can also be used to get assistance if you prefer, though they encourage calling more. You can also find some information on the site.
  
• The National Youth Violence Prevention Center also has resources related to the observance here. Yes, it is not just spouses or significant others; children and youths in families where an abusive situation exists suffer too.
• The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) is also a good resource.
• In Texas, the Attorney General has some resources here. A bit more geared to sexual assault, but still good information.
• There is also a Texas Council on Family Violence.
• Locally, you have the good folks of the East Texas Crisis Center. If you need help locally, this is a place to go.
  

This small list is certainly not comprehensive. I have tried to put out some resources that I have looked over and seem to provide good information. Readers are invited to comment, respond, and if they have other suggestions for links, add in the comments as well.

And yes, I tagged the post under "celebrations and holidays." It is not because I think domestic violence is to be celebrated; it is not. But this is also about a monthly observance, which is what I use the tag for. Just to be clear.

And the saga continues as Congress has pretty much proven that they are bought and sold by the insurance industry. I am really, really trying not to go on a rant, but it is getting harder these days not to. I get the impression that we pretty much are not going to get any significant reform at all from the current crop of legislators. In the unlikely miracle that something were passed, as soon as mid-elections come around, and the right wing machine steamrolls in with misinformation and fear, thus getting rid of the current Democrat majority, you know those people will be working hard to repeal said miracle of something passing. In plain English, we may well end up worse off.

When I kept the blog for students here on Vox, under a different url, one of the things I used to do was collect links and resources on various hot topics. These were things I thought they would find useful for their papers, especially for freshman composition where they had to write argumentative essays on current events. Health care reform back then, we are talking four or five years ago, was a hot topic as it is now. Anyone with access could find articles on a database, so I tried to go past that to locate government documents, think tank reports, so on, that students often overlook. Also, I like the idea of having the studies that news organizations like CNN report on. People really need to read the actual documents once in a while, so to that end I do these little link dump postings with some commentary. I can get some of my thoughts off my chest, and I can provide pieces of information. And when it comes to health care reform, we need all the information we can get. We need to dispel the fears and educate people. Maybe, even though the hope is infinitesimal, people will wake up and do what is right. By the way, as a disclosure, when I used to keep the student resource blog, I would not add my personal comment like I did above, tempting as it could be. Since this is my "scratch pad," I feel more comfortable throwing in an opinion or two.

So, here are the links for this week:

• Let's start with the infamous IHAP (America's Health Insurance Plans; note that AHIP is basically the health insurance industry's lobbying organization) report, the one on "Potential Impact of Health Reform on the Cost of Private Health Insurance Coverage" (link to full report in PDF). This is the report that some of the news organizations have identified as biased, incomplete and debunked. See for example MArc Ambinder posting for The Atlantic here. Here is some reporting on the pushback against the report from CNN. Now, I link to the report because I think people should at least look at the executive summary with the key findings. Of course, they also need to seek other sources, including sources that not show as much self-interest and bias as AHIP does. That is basic information literacy right there: the ability to evaluate sources for bias and interest. Report found via Docuticker. 
• The Urban Institute released a report on "The Cost of Failure to Enact Health Care Reform: Implications for States (link to the publication abstract. You can get the full report there in PDF). You could go with the IHAP report and give a pass to the insurance companies, who will keep raising rates and dropping coverage for people regardless of whether there is reform or not. Or you can read this report and see what can (and will likely happen) if no reform is enacted. From the abstract: "The report makes clear that the cost of failure would be substantial and felt in every state. The analysis shows that if federal reform efforts fail, over the next decade in every state, the percent of the population that is uninsured will increase, employer-sponsored coverage will continue to erode, spending on public programs will balloon, and individual and family out-of-pocket costs could increase by more than 35 percent." I think I can trust an organization that provides "independent nonpartisan analysis of the problems facing America's cities and their residents." Report found via Docuticker. 
• The Urban Institute also has put out a brief looking at age issues when it comes to insurance premiums, in other words, what they may charge a senior when compared to a younger person. This one may require a bit closer reading because these are the things discussed when the insurance companies claim that rates will go up and bring up the idea of sharing risk. The brief is "Age Rating Under Comprehensive Health Care Reform: Implications for Coverage, Costs, and Household Financial Burdens" (link to PDF). 
• The Center for Community Change reports that "New Report, Documentary Debunk Myth; Show Heartland Favors Favors Health Care Reform" (link to press release. You can get the report and look at the short documentary via their links). This is the kind of resource you would rarely see in the major news. Much of the news coverage covers the angry people, the so-called teabaggers who claim that people in the middle of America hate any idea of health care reform. This source should start providing some refutation to the claim. But we still have a long way to educating people. Found via Docuticker. You can find the direct link to the full documentary on You Tube here; get the documentary's stories in segments here. The stories are simply heart breaking.
  
• K.G. Schneider responded to a comment on her blog by conservative (by her own identification) Ellie Dworak. Worth a look if just to see how some people respond to the issue. If I was showing this to students, I would point them to how both sides are talking to each other. Ms. Dworak apparently did not like being taken to task on a blog. All I will say if you write it publicly, and she did by commenting on Ms. Schneider's blog, then be ready to be questioned and engaged. I think Ms. Schneider gave a pretty good reply to an issue many bloggers with an audience deal with, in addition to her thoughts on the health care reform debate.
  
• Do you need help understanding the health care reform debate? So do I very often. Ze Frank, a comedian, helps to put it in perspective, with some humor in the process. The Free Government Information Blog gives us a link in "Ze Frank Tries to Understand Healthcare." Ze Frank pokes fun at a lot of the rumors and myths going around about health care reform. Overall, he puts things in pretty good perspective. He mentions FactCheck.org in the video, a site I have linked to before but I will do so again because it is an excellent resource to get perspective on issues and, well, check the facts people and so-called experts throw around, often hoping no one is really paying attention. In essence, use FactCheck.org and show others that you are indeed paying attention. 

In case the random reader that finds this blog is interested, you can find my previous posts on this topic here, here, and here.

Update Note (Same day): Oops, almost forgot to include this. This is an article on "How to Read Articles About Health and Health Care" by Dr. Alicia White (link leads to PDF).  This is an excellent piece to use in teaching information literacy. Also, it is very good for just reminding people not to panic when they see some headline about some medical "breakthrough" that is often not a big deal, if at all. The article comes from the British National Health Service (NHS) Behind the Headlines webpage. Actually, this NHS site is another very good source of health information and health literacy. With a hat tip to Resource Shelf.