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SLO 1, ARTIFACT 3:
Information Policy Presentation This presentation has special meaning for me because it was one of the first class presentations I did as an MLIS student. In my foundations class, we each had to present on a chapter from the textbook Information Services Today. I remember feeling as if I had hit the jackpot of presentation topics when I learned I would be presenting on Kate Marek’s information policy chapter. Not only did I have experience with policy from having spent several years in educational administration, I was and still am very passionate about the topics mentioned in the chapter. The presentation offers a broad overview of considerations one should keep in mind when creating and assessing policies on access to information. While doing research for it, I learned about the unexpected implications of restricted access to scholarly literature. I was surprised to learn, for example, the impact that paywalls had had during the Affordable Care Act negotiations, forcing some congresspeople to have to ask a college student to use his library login ID so that they could access research articles. I learned about librarians Zoia Horn, Ruth Brown, and the Connecticut Four, who stood up publicly on behalf of intellectual freedom and library user's privacy rights. I also learned about how librarians Joan Marshall and Steve Wolf fought to get the Library of Congress to change its derogatory subject headings on homosexuality. Before reading about Marshall and Wolf I had not understood the deep political and social implications of cataloging practice. Catalog naming that reinforces bigotry and prejudices has the power to make certain groups feel unwelcome at the library, and it is antithetical to the ideas of democracy and open access. Preparing this presentation made me realize how much power a librarian can wield at the policy level. I could see myself using a version of this presentation in a workshop or a class on censorship down the road as either a presenter or a lecturer. |