tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post6835613816202631413..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Being Served - Elen CaldecottUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-58231954270214697552011-01-18T10:42:32.270+00:002011-01-18T10:42:32.270+00:00I was very surprised at the state of UK libraries ...I was very surprised at the state of UK libraries when I visited London and Ireland. I thought that they would be much better than the libraries in the US. Many of the libraries I visited were very small, but the young adult sections in all of them were very poorly stocked. I hope that UK librarians are working on advocacy to at least keep what is already there!Ms. Yinglinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805324364289597178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-88790263649714357742011-01-17T23:49:12.598+00:002011-01-17T23:49:12.598+00:00Thank you for this celebration of our lovely libra...Thank you for this celebration of our lovely libraries - inspiration to keep fighting!K.M.Lockwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540392557430776265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-45891994943161554542011-01-17T20:37:38.625+00:002011-01-17T20:37:38.625+00:00Thanks, Michelle, I love her writing and I haven&#...Thanks, Michelle, I love her writing and I haven't read that.Elen Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00445201005486291612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-83477491413810919402011-01-17T18:57:33.339+00:002011-01-17T18:57:33.339+00:00So glad to hear you are being served, Elen. Lovely...So glad to hear you are being served, Elen. Lovely post. Have you read Andrea Levy's The Long Song? It's about the ambiguous status of slaves in Caribbean even after so-called emancipation. It's a great book and won't feel like homework at all.michelle lovrichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01026972300195225090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-32578103824110688852011-01-17T13:56:52.618+00:002011-01-17T13:56:52.618+00:00Excellent example of why we need to retain and sup...Excellent example of why we need to retain and support our libraries. Real books and highly trained, professional librarians are more essential than ever in an age of technological revolution where we are flooded with information, none of it sifted or evaluated online. If we lose this resource, we won't get it back.<br /><br />Just as worrying, school libraries are under threat and, as in this example, it's children and adults without access to books in the home who will suffer most. Closing libraries, or turning them into internet cafes, is one of the most socially regressive things a government can do.Ellen Rennerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09409919041496631776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-36140050287357852462011-01-17T11:00:37.033+00:002011-01-17T11:00:37.033+00:00A very interesting and apposite post, Elen, and yo...A very interesting and apposite post, Elen, and your book sounds fascinating.Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-50293337869081254322011-01-17T10:32:38.858+00:002011-01-17T10:32:38.858+00:00One of the difficulties of the internet (which in ...One of the difficulties of the internet (which in every other way I think is wonderful) is that it has degraded the quality of our research. In particular children are losing the experience of researching by seeking out sources, and crucially, judging their reliability. I was asked to judge a school competition a few years ago and the number of children who had simply printed pages off the internet, without relevance or understanding, was quite astonishing. <br />Libraries are places to learn to follow a trail. To catch a glimpse of an idea in one book and chase it down as it races through other volumes. I'm not against internet research but eventually you have to immerse yourself in genuine sources, whether first hand accounts or professional summaries. The internet offers too many amateur views with no way of differentiating for accuracy or quality, and many children seem not to realise this.<br />Our libraries are crucial in helping to develop independent research skills in kids. hunting in a library is one of the first steps in thinking for yourself.Louise44https://www.blogger.com/profile/09805715379098452565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-41541301273985610372011-01-17T09:05:24.740+00:002011-01-17T09:05:24.740+00:00Yes, I think it was Charlie who said this week ...Yes, I think it was Charlie who said this week 'wikipedia is a great place to start your research but a terrible place to end it.'<br />Of the books that I loaned that day, I ended up buying my own copy of Equiano's autobiography for about £6. The book on Pero is also reasonably priced, but the history is £26 in paperback, £70 hardback. And only Equiano's books has been published as an ebook. So, if it hadn't been for the library I would either have had to spend a load of money, or had to rely on the superficial history on the internet.Elen Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00445201005486291612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-16504281282717200622011-01-17T08:57:30.783+00:002011-01-17T08:57:30.783+00:00Last week one of the local library staff told me, ...Last week one of the local library staff told me, quite casually, "Of course if we have to stop buying books altogether there is always the internet." <br />Our local libraries network is cutting back drastically on new material and telling people who want to research topics to "use the internet". It is seen as a substitute but the reality is that it is not and I doubt it ever can be. I certainly have no idea how to have multiple research volumes open on the screen at the same time!<br />I support your efforts to keep your local libraries in the strongest possible terms.catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.com