Primary Source Material in the Public Library | Awful Library Books

You may be tempted to keep older history materials, such as those written during the time the event was happening, because they are “important” or as valuable primary source material.

If your public library’s mission includes a statement about archiving and preserving, then yes, primary sources are for you! If your public library’s mission involves providing college or professional-level research materials, then yes, primary sources are for you as well! For everyone else, whose public library missions are to support the educational, entertainment, and life-long learning needs of the community through popular materials and programming (for example), primary sources are not for you. You’ll be better off with books that put history in its proper context: the past.

Source: Primary Source Material in the Public Library | Awful Library Books

Advertisements

Libraries are dying – but it’s not about the books | Simon Jenkins | Opinion | The Guardian

The internet stole the monopoly on knowledge but it can’t recreate a sense of place. Revival is possible.

The library must rediscover its specialness. This must lie in exploiting the strength of the post-digital age, the “age of live”. This strength lies not in books as such, but in its readers, in their desire to congregate, share with each other, hear writers and experience books in the context of their community.

Source: Libraries are dying – but it’s not about the books | Simon Jenkins | Opinion | The Guardian

Data and the chocolate chip cookie challenge | Knowledge Quest

At one point in my life as a mother to young teens, I decided to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie; which of course, meant locating the perfect recipe. A year-long journey began with the traditional Toll House recipe and ended… Read More ›

Source: Data and the chocolate chip cookie challenge | Knowledge Quest

How We Haiku — Teaching Stories 11

 

It’s one thing to appreciate haiku, but it’s a totally different animal to teach it.  Teaching requires flexibility, passion, and a degree of mastery of the subject that allows the teacher to converse freely and energetically enough to engage the audience in a learning moment… wherever and whenever that teaching moment occurs.

Check out this inspiring Teaching Story – How We Haiku.

Source: How We Haiku — Teaching Stories 11