Author: Jaf

Law, libraries, books, crafts, and general geekery.

I’m still playing to stereotype!

But…it is important that Scottish literature is maintained as a separate category from English literature in the Library of Congress classification system!

Otherwise I might have had to take to referring to The Great Gatsby as having been written by a great Canadian author…after all, they speak the same language, must be the same countries, right?

Hee hee hee…

She would have hated me as her student!

Tara Brabazon’s hitting the headlines again, with an interview in The Guardian.
She thinks that librarians will like her take on things, as we all want more books, and must feel as she does, that using Google, Wikipedia, and even blogs is ‘bad’ research.
Well, I disagree.

I like using Google – it gives me a good starting point. Wikipedia quickly gives me information on topics that I don’t know about. Blogs give a personal view of issues, and often uncover a bias or truth not widely publicised.
Yes, books are wonderful, but to get to the information in them, I need physical access to them…which isn’t always possible. Online tools allow me to start my research from resources I can access, then if needed, I can move on to physical resources. I can’t easily tell if a book even discusses a certain topic without having it and its index in my hand, but I can do a keyword search on a pdf, or webpage, and rapidly check its usefulness.
I’m also a big enough girl to be able to assess the potential accuracy and reliability of the resources I look at.
To be banned from doing this, and allowed to refer only to a list selected by someone else seems stupid. Yes, they may be the leading texts, but what if there’s been comment on them that disagrees with them, but isn’t also included on that list?
Isn’t that just as biased as an error-ridden Wikipedia entry?

Others have already stated that her approach to training students to research by banning use of Google, and giving only a set text list isn’t a particularly great plan…all I can say is she would have HATED me as her student! 🙂

Definition of "National"?

*Rant warning, and yes, this may play to the stereotype of Scots, but it’s frustrating!*

Methinks someone at the BBC needs to check their facts a little more carefully about the National Year of Reading.
In this case, “National” means the nations of England and Wales, not Scotland or Northern Ireland…so there’s no “NYR” events or contacts here, we’re apparently not taking part in it, it is not a UK wide event. Any attempt to find a book group, volunteer, or be otherwise involved via their website in anything other than England and Wales would come to a dead end.
Please, please, can someone at the BBC actually check facts before they declare something’s UK wide when it’s not?

*rant over*