Photo credit: bridgeandtunnelclub.com
The Seattle Public Library is running an online voters guide and checking facts on a range of issues in the Washington State and Federal elections. Hurray for them. Their site is called the Living Voters Guide. It covers some hot-button issues including same gender marriage, legalization of marijuana and charter schools.
A recent blog on the Seattle Times website had a headline calling this a risky experiment, but valuable and describes how it works and some of the issues that have arisen for the librarians supporting this resource. I disagree with the headline and the characterization of this as being risky. This is exactly what our profession should be doing, particularly because we can assess, evaluate and curate information sources so well.
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BTW, as you can see I have taken an extended break from blogging here. I’m now focusing on getting back into it on a more regular basis.
Hi Gordon…sorry I got caught up in ‘life’ and didn’t send you my notes….do you still want them?
I didn’t see you at the FVRL Thomas Frey event last week but its public library focus may have seemed less pertinent to your current position. However, I have to say, that if the world is even somewhat like his predictions, all libraries have some huge challenges on their hands! It was really provocative, if nothing else. Unfortunately, I think some of the city councillors focused on some of the wrong things . But that is just my humble opinion…. I have five pages of notes, if you are curious. I could forward them to you…
/——/—–/—–/ Christina Neigel
Hi Christina — Yes I’m still interested in your notes.
A colleague of mine was at the Thomas Frey event and I got the scoop from him.
I got the impression that it was not entirely useful, could have been shorter, didn’t always make the connections between new technology and operationalizing its use. I compared what I heard to Franz Johansson’s sessions in California around “The Medici Effect”. They were better than Frey’s from what I gather, so I don’t think I missed anything, but yes send those notes too. Much appreciated.
–Gordon
As libraries reconfigure into the twenty first century, taking a position of checking the facts in questions raised in an election is a way forward. That the facts are available on line only underscores the value of the library as a very public and non partisan institution.
Agree Jeremy, that taking initiatives in such directions could considerably strengthen perceptions of public libraries as essential institutions. While they continue to retain a reputation with their users as being objective dispensers of information, against its censorship and distortion, perhaps they still have to deal with a basic view of themselves as much more passive than active.