Competency #9- Internet

Using www.clusty.com I searched for sites on intellectual freedom. I found the following site- http://www.pabbis.com/. PABBIS stands for Parents Against Bad Books In Schools.

Here is a screen shot-



The site talks about how you might be shocked to know that there are inappropraite books in our schools. It has page with a list of the various books that they don't think should be on the shelves of school libraries. To get to this page there is a disclaimer about having to be over 18-years-old. The page has excerpts from the various books to show why these people think the books are bad.

I chose this site because it inferiates me when people try to get books banned or influence others opinions on what is bad. They do mention on the site that bad is whatever you determine it is and that they are not trying to determine what is bad for others. I think that just by starting this web site they are trying to influence others and get them to see the books as bad. I chose intellectual freedom as my topic because I am so passionate about it and don't believe books should be banned. If you don't like a book then don't read it and talk to your kids about why you don't like it and don't what them reading it but don't don't make the decision for everyone.

Competency #8- Multimedia

YouTube

I went to YouTube and searched for videos and Intellectual Freedom. I found this one about banned books week.

Competency #7 Social Networking part 2

I searched for a site about intelletual freedom and chose the ALA's Myspace page. You can visit it here- http://www.myspace.com/atyourlibrary. I selected this page because I can't think of a better site when it comes to intellectual freedom. The American Library Association has a banned books week and is passionate about it. Here is a screen shot of their page-

Competeny #7- Social Networking

I have created a Myspace page which can be viewed here- www.myspace.com/erynisar. Here is screen shot of my page.

Competency #6- Even More Databases

ASP

I didn't find ASP but did see Academic Search Complete with is hosted by EbscoHost and figured it was the same thing.

I did a citation pearl growing search and searched for intellectual freedom. In that search I found the article Just Open the Door: Banned Books (and a Librarian!) in the Classroom by Erin Downey Howerton.



In the subject terms I discovered the phrase prohibited books. I clicked on it and found the following hits.



Lots of great resources!

Competency #6- More Database searching

WorldCat

I did a browsing search in WorldCat. I searched for intellectual freedom in school libraries and got 91 hits. Here is a screen shot of my search-



Here is one of the hits.



I was very impressed with this search. I got a good amount of hits but not too many and they seemed very relevant to my subject.

Competency #6: Databases

JSTOR

For my first search I used JSTOR and did a building block search. My search netted me 9,976 documents. Normally this would be way too many results and I would try to narrow the search by using a different type of search.


I did however find some useful ones including this one-



ERIC First Search

Next I used ERIC First Search to do a specific facet first search. When looking at my 3 facets-

Facet 1- Intellectual Freedom OR Banned Books OR Censorship
Facet 2 - High Schools OR Secondary Schools or Schools
Facet 3- Libraries

I decided that Facet 1 would give me the fewest results, so I searched it first and got 3,470 hits.
Then I searched Facet 2 and got 217,228 hits. Facet 3 got me 35,013 hits.

Here is a screen shot from my search of Facet 1.


Here is a shot of my search of Facet 2

@interesting(1) ala(4) American Library Association(2) books and reading(1) Castles Against Ignorance(1) censorship(10) civil rights(1) collection development(1) communication(1) constitution(1) critical information studies(1) diversity(1) DU mlis(1) ethics(2) first amendment(4) freedom(1) freedom of expression(1) freedom of speech(1) Freedom to Read(1) graduate school(1) guidebook(1) information science(1) intellectual freedom(12) intolerance(1) Law and licensing(1) librarians(1) librarianship(6) libraries(2) library(6) Library Bill of Rights(1) Library Reference(1) library science(8) Library Science; censorship; i(1) library text(1) library training(1) manual(1) misc(1) mlis(1) non-fiction(4) office(1) prejudice(1) privacy libraries(1) professional(1) read(1) reference(4) slis(1) textbook(1) unowned(1) wingnuttery(1) wishlist(1) Writing(1) z(1) z711(1)

http://www.librarything.com/work/222260

I chose the Intellectual Freedom Manual
by Office for Intellectual Freedom of the Ala Assn, American Library Association, office for intellectual freedom. If figure that a book by the ALA on Intellectual Freedom is going to be pretty good for a topic of Intellectual Freedom in High School Libraries

Competency 4

I have added a feed from the American Association of School Librarians to my blog. Seeing that my library type is school libraries, high school in particular, I thought this was a good choice.

Competancy #3: Podcast

Using Yahoo! Podcasts Search I chose the following blog from Lib Vibe.

http://libvibe.blogspot.com/2007/03/libvibe-12-march-2007.html

The podcast contained several different library-related stories. The first one had to do with Sports Illustrated's decision to withhold the annual swimsuit issue from its school and library subscribers. Some 21,000 libraries and schools didn't receive their issue after past feedback from parents, teachers and librarians about the issue not being appropriate for the patrons.

Librarians were in an uproar over this decision and complained. They say it is not up to Sports Illustrated to determine what is appropriate for individuals to read. Sports Illustrated realized the decision was wrong and is changing the practice. Anyone who missed the issue was able to contact Sports Illustrated to request the issue.

I was intrigued with this story because I have personally not put out the swimsuit issue when it comes to our school's library because in my opinion it is nothing more than soft porn (some of the models don't have tops on but are covering there chests with their arms and they are often in very provocative poses). Although after hearing this story it got me thinking that perhaps this is not right to be doing this. I feel very strongly about intellectual freedom and allowing individuals to decide for themselves what is appropriate for them to read and wouldn't want to be making the decision for them. This is something I will definitely have to think more about before the next swimsuit issue comes out next spring.

Blog Competency #2

The blog that I choose is: http://blogs.ala.org/oif.php I found the blog by searching on GoogleBlog.

"The most recent post discusses a decision by Creighton University president Rev. John Schlegel to rescind an invitation to Anne Lamott to speak as part of the school's Women and Health lecture series. Some public opposition had arisen to the lecture after Lamott's pro-choice politics and participation in an assisted suicide a decade ago came to light. In the wake of the cancellation, a group of Omaha churches agreed to sponsor Lamott at a larger venue in the city."

I find it interesting the things that people use as criteria to decide that something or someone isn't appropriate for not only them but others. It's one thing to decide for yourself that you don't want to listen to a certain person speak but I think it is wrong to force your view on others.

Topic Change

I have decided that I would like to change my topic to intellectual freedom in high school libraries.

Topic and Library Type

The purpose of my blog is to complete the 13 competencies required for LS 5013. My topic is imformation literacy in high school libraries