Women librarians have made great strides in recent years. According to Deyrup (2004), more than 50% of library leaders (top administrators; library directors) are women. This is significant in that in 1991, women made up 80% of the library workforce, yet 80% of the library administrators were men (Kauffman, 1993). Moreover, there are scholars (e.g., Zemon & Bahr, 2005) who claim that there are cases where the salaries of female directors exceeds that of the male directors. So, the issues surrounding the "disadvantaged majority" (i.e., women librarians) is over, right? Not so fast. While scholars such as Cassell and Weibel (2007) suggest that there are bigger issues today, there remains the image problem that has been plaguing libraries since the 1940s (O'Brien, 1983).
The image problem has recently reared its ugly head at Rutgers University. At that institution, the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies is trying to remove the term "library" from its name. Some graduates, like Mary Chilton, a professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College (CUNY), are not happy about this move and state that they will not support it. In fact, Chilton claims the following:
It sounds as if the Dean really wants to say that librarians are female and poor and mostly wedded to a diminishing public sector, and SCILS wants private money and therefore has to appeal to private money biases, or to academic administrators who share these biases, all the while reaping the headcount of the MLIS students.
Chilton continues to suggest that should the name change be approved, she would like a "divorce" from her program. It appears that the presence of a female majority continues to taint the term "library." Maybe all women librarians who graduated from programs that remove "library" from its name should take similar action. Just a thought.
Despite the advances women have made in libraries, we cannot allow them to lull us into a false sense of security and mask the gender-related problems that still exist.
Showing posts with label libraries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label libraries. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, September 26, 2008
Virtual education in Second Life
With the start of a new school year comes new articles and journal issues about education. In the past few months, there have been new entries to add to the virtual worlds bibliography.
The first entry is an article by Kemp and Haycock (2008) that examines the potential of SL to extend the physical classroom. These authors begin by reiterating the notion that educators are attempting to create more learner-centered, participatory, constructivist learning spaces. Virtual worlds, the authors argue, enable students to explore, interact with new people, experience different cultures, and engage in collaborative activities. Thus, environments such as SL are attractive to many educators. One interesting fact is that the top three role playing virtual worlds in terms of popularity and use are World of Warcraft, Lineage, and Runescape; the most popular worlds for educational initiatives are Active Worlds, NeverWinter Nights, and Second Life (p. 91).
In summer 2007, the San Jose State University SLIS program conducted a graduate course in SL with no f2f component. Fourteen students participated in this course - 79% female, 60% part-time students, 32 years of age (on average). While 93% of the students agreed that playing computer games is fun, they complainted about unpleasant encounters with residents unaffiliated with the university. Yet, the authors claim that the "SLIS campus itself was basically free of outside disturbances" (p. 95). While Kemp and Haycock view their SL campus as a safe haven, the students viewed it differently.
Also, the Kemp and his colleague note that SL is not particularly well-suited for reflection and deep learning. They encourage the use of a course management system such as Blackboard, which is used at SJSU, to supplement the SL curriculum. As Sir John Daniel (2007), President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning, noted in a debate with Dr. Robert Kozma, "there is no magic medium and never will be. Each technology has its strengths" (n.p.).
The first entry is an article by Kemp and Haycock (2008) that examines the potential of SL to extend the physical classroom. These authors begin by reiterating the notion that educators are attempting to create more learner-centered, participatory, constructivist learning spaces. Virtual worlds, the authors argue, enable students to explore, interact with new people, experience different cultures, and engage in collaborative activities. Thus, environments such as SL are attractive to many educators. One interesting fact is that the top three role playing virtual worlds in terms of popularity and use are World of Warcraft, Lineage, and Runescape; the most popular worlds for educational initiatives are Active Worlds, NeverWinter Nights, and Second Life (p. 91).
In summer 2007, the San Jose State University SLIS program conducted a graduate course in SL with no f2f component. Fourteen students participated in this course - 79% female, 60% part-time students, 32 years of age (on average). While 93% of the students agreed that playing computer games is fun, they complainted about unpleasant encounters with residents unaffiliated with the university. Yet, the authors claim that the "SLIS campus itself was basically free of outside disturbances" (p. 95). While Kemp and Haycock view their SL campus as a safe haven, the students viewed it differently.
Also, the Kemp and his colleague note that SL is not particularly well-suited for reflection and deep learning. They encourage the use of a course management system such as Blackboard, which is used at SJSU, to supplement the SL curriculum. As Sir John Daniel (2007), President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning, noted in a debate with Dr. Robert Kozma, "there is no magic medium and never will be. Each technology has its strengths" (n.p.).
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