Reactions to Reflective Journals

It's late and I've just finished reading all the journals.  I continue to be overwhelmed by your comments and ruminations. I've had requests for some idea of what you are all writing about.  Most of you commented on the Library of Alexandria and what a loss the fire was. I'll agree. It would have been wonderful to have all that literature and knowledge. Fortunately, we have hints in other writings of what was in the library and can reconstruct, or have reconstructed some of those writings. Others are lost forever.  Whenever I think of the Library of Alexandria and it's loss, I wonder about whether all our digital materials might be lost if there's some massive war, or power surge, or something to that effect. Maybe I've read too much science fiction over the years. A Canticle for Leibowitz always comes to mind when I think loss of collections, so does Fahrenheit 451. If you haven't read these books, you might have read others like Dies the Fire by SM Sterling or The Giver  by Lois Lowry. What would happen if the knowledge of the world was lost.  Too depressing a thought for this late at night.

What else did you focus on for week 2. The convergence of libraries, archives and museums played havoc with most of you.  Consider "Special Collections" within libraries and that might help with the idea of collections with many types of materials.  I don't think the three types of cultural institutions should merge, but there are such animals out there.

Many of you voiced concerns about the profession and respect by others for librarianship as profession. It's an age old problem of image. You'll see lots of discussion in the literature which includes salary, inequality of the sexes, appearance, and reputation. Maybe you are the generation which will fix this problem.

I want to reiterate that there's no right or wrong with the reflective journals. They are for you to ruminate. I"m just reading and commenting.  Do think of substantive issues to write about. Problems that concern you. I'll do my best to respond and comment. 

Now, on to my next posting.