Brynmor Jones Library

so rapidly that at times they can make more familiar components of our lives, such as libraries, seem outdated and antiquated. However it is the pairing of the two, technologies with the library, which have made the pair even more relevant in the evolving information landscapes that we modern humans find ourselves in. This continually changing landscape can be a daunting thought when just starting out in library school, but when I take a step back and think about it, when have humans ever been…

Intellect can invoke a series of ideas that affect people in a positive or negative manner. The essays “The Library Card” by Richard Wright and “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, both emphasize the importance and epitomize the significance in being educated. In both cases, knowledge destabilizes them and causes them to develop a hatred for themselves and others. In addition, they both realize that the knowledge they have acquired does not make freedom any less evasive. On a…

When users are in need of information, they are often faced with a personal task of sifting through numerous amounts of information on their own. Over the years many information professionals have developed a set of terminology for the process that is Information Seeking. Carol Kuhlthau developed a detailed overview of what happens during the information seeking process. She discusses that the information seeking process “is the user’s constructive activity of finding meaning from information in…

5. The news piece on the Aboriginal movement Idle No More (INM) by Chris Dart draws attention to the sudden explosion of support the movement gained a few years ago in its onset during a protest at Yonge and Dundas square. Although, the movements roots are based in fighting for aboriginal rights, the INM leaders realized that it is essential to engage Canadians outside the movement in order to achieve broader success. The news piece exposes that the environmental aspect within the INM movement…

John Steinbeck and Richard Wright both lived in times that George Orwell would say compelled them to write as a form of historical impulse-- because they were deeply upset by the world around them, they wanted others to understand their distress. Both writers, though their motivations and methods were unique, sought to change the times they lived in. The question, however, is how true social change is achieved-- does progress begin with the stimulation of an individual or through movement of…

Visiting the PEM museum and discovering Gardner Pingree house and the Yin Yu Tang house, I learned many things throughout my whole experience. Going through two different houses and contrasting both of the houses seemed very easy because both of the house were from two different parts of the world. The Gardener's Pingree House was from U.S.A and the Yin Yu Tang House was from China. The Yin Yu Tang house was a Chinese house whose owner was a late dynasty merchant. The house was originally…

Book banning is not doing a greater cause. Book banning is when government or higher authority remove books off shelfs from school libraries for being political, religious, or offensive being too dangerous for young readers. People read books for adventure to discover a whole real world. Censoring books for being too offensive will not open reader’s minds for the real or creative world. Book banning challenges citizen’s freedom to read. Books are influence for new beginnings. Books support…

Banned Animal Farm. Animal Farm has been banned in loads of countries for the same reasons and sometimes it’s a different reason. Why have they been banned? Why have countries like North Korea, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and the United Arab Emirates banned this book about animals who revolt against the farmers, but fall into a corrupt leadership. Why ban a book that is read by children in the U.S.A and others? A book can be harmless on the outside, but can be dangerous on the inside. Animal Farm has…

The American Library Association created a list of books that are prohibited to read in schools. Due to violence and “mature” content, parents challenge books because they don’t find them very comely for their children to read; the parents believe the books will sully their child’s mind. The list of banned and challenged books includes the story of “Grendel” and The Alice Series. “Grendel” by John C. Gardner tells the 8th century epic of Beowulf from Grendel’s point of view. The story tells of…

volunteers willing to lend a helping hand. After arriving everything I thought before was completely wrong. It was very organized and there were a lot of books being donated along with being shelved for the public. The facility was set up like a public library, different section and shelves for different genres. The facility had a lot of natural ventilation that affected my allergies, but I focused on my duties.…