I kinda wish I was more artistic…

That being said, I recognize where my weaknesses are. So I attempted to utilize MS words “smart art” but it would only let me use 7 of the topics that I determined would be important for my research topic. But before I show you, my rough topic/question is as follows: With the number of websites that have inspired social action in the last 5 years beginning to disappear, is it possible for these “pamphlets of the now” to be preserved in a meaningful way (the reference to “pamphlets of the now” is a rough reference to an interview with UofT head librarian, I have to go back through my course notes to find the proper citation)?

That done – and criticism welcome – here is the first daisy that MS let me make easily:

These topics in and of themselves would probably make for a fairly interesting research lit review, but sadly they do not cover everything that I think I need to look into.

So, I made another one. This time I had to do a bunch of object editing, and it would have been easier if I had just done it with good old pen and paper, but here it is:

Not quite as pretty, but actually looking like a daisy.

All of the topics I identified are as follows: Copyright, Ownership, Privacy, Corporate Policy, Social Media Corporations (meaning Facebook, Twitter etc governing body), Social Documents, Ephemeral Documents, Preservation of Digital Databases, Provenance of Digital Records, “Private” Records Management, Active/Passive “Collection”, Migration, Intention and Technology.

GAH, that’s 14 areas that I need to try to find material on. I suppose it is better to start with more and weed it down as I am actually able to do the research I would like to do.

That’s all for me.
Cheers.

Ben S.

Week 3 – Bedraggled Daisy

The peddles for my daisy are fairly broad, but I find that looking at the full picture often helps me then focus on what are the most important aspects. I was considering doing a flower for the other two ideas I mentioned in my previous post, because I am indecisive and am not sure which would make the best topic to study. In the meantime here is my daisy.

Bedraggled Daisy, Artistically Rendered

I presented a few research interests which I firmly believe hold great potential for exploration in last week’s post. Luckily, I was able to draw upon my interest in the issues surrounding youth collections development policies and practices in public library settings. I have, however, made modifications to this topic of inquiry by narrowing one aspect to encapsulate a type of youth collection; namely, that of multilingual materials. Incorporating the study of multilingual youth collections dawned upon me quite recently – to be exact, yesterday night, as I examined the multilingual section at the branch where I work. I was shocked to find a large disparity in the availability of multilingual materials categorized as youth-appropriate in comparison to the heaping amount of Junior and Adult fiction/non-fiction titles which dominated the section. I also was only able to locate French language YA fiction within my branch. Surely there must be someone interested in reading a YA book in other languages!

This may be an unfair sample since I have only examined the multilingual collection thus far through a limited scope (being what is offered by the sub-urban public library system I’m employed within). Yet, this discovery has me asking – what are the issues surrounding developing collections for youth with multilingual reading interests? Can the lack of YA multilingual materials be attributed to a lack of interest from multilingual/immigrant youth in using non-English language texts and/or audiovisual materials? Or is there a variety of underlying socio-cultural and political issues involved here? Oddly enough, these questions began to pop like kernels of corn in my mind as I began to draw, outline, and colour in the various sections of my daisy. Not only did process of drawing assist greatly in formalizing my thoughts, for it also allocated time for rumination on the spectrum of possibilities that lie within each petal as solitary or coupled areas of inquiry.

And so, without further ado, I present to you the eight petals on my bedraggled daisy:

• Multilingual Collections Development methods and practices
• Publication and production of YA multilingual texts
• Range of non-English language materials and their availability (in terms of language, format/medium)
• Demand for Young Adult Multilingual texts
• Information-seeking behaviours of non-native English speaking immigrant youth.
• Multilingual reading interests of native vs. non-native English speaking youth
• Attitudes and perspectives of librarians on multilingual collections
• Political implications of expanding or decreasing emphasis on multilingual collections

I attempt to analyze the relationships among these petals within the framework of major Canadian urban/sub-urban public libraries, and am truly interested in the findings this research will produce.

– Olivia Wisniewski