The Questioning Librarian

There is nothing quite so insulting to one's intelligence as a snake oil salesman. Even worse is one who comes back to the same place, peddling exactly the same shoddy goods as the first time. An editorial that appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review last week is one of the finest examples of snake oil salesmanship that I've read in quite a while. The author, hailing from the conservative Commonwealth Foundation, is hawking the same old batch of peculiar remedies that conservatives have been promoting since the early eighties.  Pennsylvania's population is declining, he laments, and it's all because of the reckless tax and spend policies of Governor Wolf! Breathlessly, he relates just how many Pennsylvanians are leaving the state, crushed under taxes, longing to breathe free elsewhere. If only the state would slash taxes, our residents would want to stay, and corporations would beat down the door to open up shop here--utopia would be achieved! This argum...

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a conference on Social Thought here in State College. The event began on Friday evening with a keynote address by noted sociologist Frances Fox Piven, a fitting choice for a conference with a focus on inequality given her work on poverty in the United States. Just as interesting as her address were a number of papers presented by current grad students and faculty the next day, on topics as diverse as the "Sunflower" Movement in Taiwan, the rhetoric of the C.I.A.'s kill list, and Sojourner Truth's conception of equality. It was incredibly heartening to see so much bright young talent, but what was less heartening was Piven's statement the night before that no matter how brilliant a grad student may be, the likely future of most will be the serfdom of permanent adjunct status. Piven lamented the attack on universities, pointing out the role of states in gutting financial support, in administrators creating ever-...

There have always been anti-intellectual elements in our public life; both Richard Hofstadter and Susan Jacoby have chronicled the waxing and waning of anti-intellectualism in the United States in the past two centuries. What is disturbing is to see that, for all our knowledge, our technology, and the progress we have made, anti-intellectualism is on the rise again. While we have always seen sniping at the edges in the ongoing battles over teaching evolution, and climate change, many of the recent battles have been attacks on education itself, and the very idea that education has value for its own sake. The attacks on education have come largely from the Republican Party, often in the form of deep cuts to both K-12 education and higher education. Sacrifices must be made, the governors and legislators solemnly declare, but those sacrifices never seem to come from those who can afford to make them, nor are they equally distributed. Pennsylvania's now-former Republican gove...

There can be no doubt that our veterans have sacrificed much more than we can imagine. We duly honor them every Veteran's Day and Memorial Day, remembering those who served. We honor not only those who survived and are still with us but those who died, those who gave limbs and eyes and sacrificed forever their peace of mind when they served. We are exhorted to "support the troops," but if we really want to honor our veterans, supporting our servicemen and women has to be far more than a bumper sticker slogan.  We can honor our veterans by not being so eager to make more of them in the first place. Whether it is the Ukraine , Nigeria , or Syria , a number of politicians are ever-eager to send American troops into countries around the world, often without full consideration of whether this is even a good idea. American troops were sent into Iraq on what turned out to be a lie , and as a result over three thousand servicemen lost their lives, with countless more wounded...

When I went to my book club last week, I was looking forward to discussing the Anita Shreve novel that had been selected, a book that was interestingly written even if the story itself was a little dull for me. The way our book club is set up is that each of us takes a turn talking about what we thought about the book and got out of it, and with the diversity of people there, ranging from a retired German teacher, an old Presbyterian minister, to a local artist, the discussion is always interesting. But what was most striking for me this time was the response to the book from a member of the group who spoke very little about the novel itself. Instead, he talked about how when he lived in California he walked several miles to the library to take out books, how he treasured them, how a handful of books that he had taken out of the library changed his life. It really turned out to be a profound mediation on the power of books to alter a life in the most surprising ways.  Where I ...

A few days ago I had a distinct feeling of deja vu . Returning from giving a talk to a local organization, I walked towards the library where I currently work to help cover a shift in the evening. Night was coming on, and the warm yellow lights glowed from within the library piercing the oncoming dark. As I entered through the main door into the relative quiet, I felt the same feeling that I had so many times when I was still at Clarion, heading to the University Library after sunset. It's a feeling that is difficult to describe, a gentle warmth of the heart the moment you see the lights in the distance, acting as a beacon in the dark. It is the silent thrill of anticipation of what might await inside, for a good library is a magical place, a beacon in the darkness of the mind just as it is in the physical darkness. It was a moment that caused me a brief feeling of longing, of wishing that I could go back to Clarion's library not just today but as it exists in my mind, as it w...

A few weeks ago, I decided to write about the "workforce plan" at my alma mater, Clarion University. Towards the end, I noted that the root of the problem came from the anti-education administration of Pennsylvania's current governor, Tom Corbett, who was happy to keep funding the state's jails but didn't feel nearly as kindly towards education in the state. This is but one facet of an administration that has an absolutely shameful record on many points. If the actions of this man and his administration haven't made you angry yet, you aren't paying attention. While Corbett continues to blame the President for the cuts to Pennsylvania education, he himself must bear the responsibility for $1 billion in cuts to K-12 education. I've seen widely varying figures as to just how many educators lost their jobs as a result, with numbers as high as 20,000 (though I suspect that those numbers include not just teachers, but also the numerous support staff wh...

Over a week ago, my alma mater, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, released what it touted as a "bold" and "ambitious" workforce plan for the next several years. The backlash was both strong and immediate, forcing the University Administration, currently headed by President Karen Whitney, to release a " Frequently Asked Questions " for its plan. The outrage on social media, as well as a MoveOn.org petition with several thousand signatures, doubtless have already channeled the displeasure of the community, alumni, and students with the plan. The University is accepting public feedback, but this seems to be only a political window-dressing for a plan that Whitney herself was  quoted  as saying "...is 95-98% a done deal." For over a week I debated over what form a blog on the topic would take, and while I realize that what I have to say here is little different from what I and others have already stated elsewhere, I feel the need to address thi...