Pixaby is a free online website that is a repository for photographs and illustrations. Each work is submitted under a CC0 license, which means that you can use them (even for commercial purposes) without giving credit to the creator.
Images can be downloaded as JPEGs in a variety of sizes. The quality of the file is excellent. The quality of the images range from decent to excellent. Some images are clearly taken by professionals, while others seem to be taken by amateurs. I would recommend using Pixaby if you are looking for stock type images to use in blogs, presentations, classes, etc. They provide a wide array of content. The searching feature is helpful. My suggestion is to search multiple keywords related to your desired result. The tagging feature seems to be at the whim of the person uploading the image. Overall, Pixaby is a nice image resource. It is especially useful for those who are not that familiar with copyright law trying to avoid copyright infringement. Pixaby: https://pixabay.com/
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This past year has been abuzz with the term "fake news". There are constantly articles and guides written about what it is and how to spot it. I don't want to add to the clutter or just post a general guide about how to tell if something is fake or not. So, I decided that I would give some general information and then use that to work through a specific example and point things out. I'll warn you in advance - this post is going to be quite long. What type of news exist? There are many different types of news reports out there in the world. Many get lumped under the "fake news" umbrella, even though they really aren't fake. So what types of news exist?
It is important to understand that Media Bias and Fake News are not one in the same. While an article with media bias may be skewing or interpreting the facts in a particular way - it is still reporting on facts. Fake News does not report on credible facts AT ALL. How To Spot As I mentioned earlier, there are many different guides available on how to evaluate for fake news. I particularly enjoy the one put together by the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions). Example So, let's use this guide and pair it with a news article to see the results. The article we are going to use is titled "Was Trump born in Russia? Obama asks to see Trump's birth certificate" and it is from The Daily Squat. Step One: Consider the Source If we scroll to the bottom of the webpage, we can see an "About Us" section. If we click on it, we can clearly see that The Daily Squat is "a satirical news site founded in 2015". So, right from the start we know everything on this website is satire. We are going to continue to use this example though so it is easy to point out things since we know right from the start the article is satire. About Us sections are great places to go to get information about news sites. Let's compare the about section for Daily Squat with BBC. You can clearly see that the Daily Squat has very little information about the writers and the website in general - apart from indicating that it is a satirical news site. The BBC on the other hand contains a lot of information - including information on how it is run, FAQs, partners, etc. When the organization is very forthcoming and open with information about themselves, it can help validate the credibility. Step Two: Read Beyond Take a minute to search what the article is claiming. See if it is being reported anywhere else. If it is, what types of websites are publishing that information? Are they more questionable news sites or are they mainstream media? If mainstream media is reporting on it, the core of the article is probably true. If more questionable websites are reporting on it, then what you are reading is most likely false. If we did a google search for Obama claiming that Trump was born in Russia, nothing would come up that relates to our search. Step Three: Check the Author Most credible news organizations will have author biographies at the end of an article or somewhere on the website. You can use this information to check the validity of the author. You can also search for the author via a search engine (like google or bing). If I searched for David Marrs, author of the Daily Squat article, I would not be able to find much information because he doesn't really exist. If I search for Tara Garcia Mathewson, a writer for The Hechinger Report, I will find many references to her previous work and biography in my results list. Step Four: Supporting Sources? If the article mentions or links to references (or sources), check them out. Are they credible sources? Are they questionable sources? If the source is questionable, then the article is probably questionable. Can you verify them with an additional search? If the article references a study - can you find that study? If not, then you are probably not looking at a reliable news article. Step Five: Check the Date The article should have a date listed somewhere on it. Is it current? Just because the date is current, doesn't mean it is credible. It does help determine if it is something that happened recently though. Step Six: Is It A Joke? As previously mentioned, if we did some research on the Daily Squat site we could clearly see that the whole website is satirical news. If we look at the particular article on Obama claiming Trump was born in Russia, we can clearly see it is a joke and making a point about Trump claiming Obama was not born in the United States. Step Seven: Check Your Biases
While you may not agree with what the article is saying, it doesn't mean that it is fake news. Checking your own biases is especially important when one is trying to claim media bias is fake news. Media Bias is not fake news, it is news with a prejudiced slant. Fake news is outright lies. Step Eight: Ask the Experts Librarians! We are here! Ask us! Librarians have the stereotype of only dealing with books - that is far from the truth. We are experts in information, managing information, evaluating information, etc. Information comes in many forms - not just books. Ask a librarian if you are unsure if something is fake or not. Another great fact checking resource if you cannot contact a librarian (for some odd reason) is Snopes. TL;DR If this post was too lengthy for you to read and you came down here to find the summary of the post, do us all a favor and ask a librarian if you aren't sure about the legitimacy of an article. Don't post or share something you aren't 100% sure about. With a new study out (published 8/30/2017) by Ithaka S+R on the diversity in Academic Research Libraries, discussion over the startling lack of diversity in the library field has begun again. There have already been multiple blog postings and articles about the report in places like Inside Higher Ed. (A link to the report can be found at the bottom of this post.) The whiteness of librarianship is a problem that I can see, and I've only been in the library profession for about five years. I look around at my colleagues and the majority are white, upper middle class females. I can remember my time in graduate school and encountering mostly white upper middle class females. There is quite a lack of diversity in all facets of librarianship (gender, race, ethnicity, LGBTQIAA, etc.). The question that remains: why? Some talk about the systemic biases of the library field and the failure of diversity initiatives. A great post about that can be found at In the Library with the Lead Pipe. (Can we take a second to discuss the cleverness of this name?) Others talk about the numbers - what are our actual diversity statistics? What can we do to "fix" it? They propose ten year plans to help combat the problem, such as a blog post over at Feral Librarian. All of these articles and posts are important. The lack of diversity in our field is a problem. The lack of diversity in many fields in a problem. In my opinion, we won't be able to address the problem properly until we acknowledge that we are part of the problem. A huge issue that I see happening in our field and in our discussion on diversity is perpetuating the terrible concept of "us and/vs. them" or "the other". When librarians talk about diversity in the field, it usually comes from a place of whiteness. What can WE as white people do to attract more people of color to OUR community/field? No wonder the field is so whitewashed! Our very language - something that our profession should be so much more cognizant of - perpetuates "the other" concept. The library field and librarians tout diversity as an important topic and issue - it is one of our core tenants. I have no doubt that there are many well meaning people who are working so hard to make the field truly diverse. How can we reach a true level of diversity, inclusion, and equity if people of color are continually treated as "the other" in the profession? I'm not even talking about trying to "recruit" diverse professionals. I am talking about the way "the other" manifests itself in everyday practices. Let's look at an example that I see currently happening in the library field. Many libraries that serve communities with diverse languages being spoken provide books that are written in different languages. Awesome! Great! They should have even more of them! The fact that they have these books isn't the problem. That is a step in the right direction. It's how these books are marketed to the community that continues to add to "the other" perception. Most libraries want to highlight these collections - make them easier for patrons to access and locate materials. They usually indicate them with special stickers and usually have an allocated section in the library for them. I totally understand their thinking. Guess what? By doing this, we are producing an "us vs. them" atmosphere. In our quest to be more inclusive, more diverse, more helpful for our patrons, we are doing the exact opposite. We are indicating that (in this example) those who read English belong over here and those who don't belong over there. What does this mean? It means that from a young age, libraries and librarians are seen as highlighting diversity but perpetuating whiteness. I know that some of you are currently reading this post and thinking to yourself: ACCESS. BARRIERS TO ACCESS. How does a non-English speaker access portions of the collection if they do not know how to use the library catalog or read the language to access the information in the catalog? I don't know. I do not have the answer to this question at this moment and I am sorry. I am merely using it as an example to highlight "the other" problem that I see lurking in all areas of the library field. I wonder what the library culture, and the rest of society in general, might look like if we treat every piece of our collection as a "normal" part of our collection though. Would the library field become more diverse because members of all facets of society find themselves represented and included? Would everyone view the library truly as a space for everyone, as we so often claim we are? I think that a large part of the problem is the library field is indicative of the broader issues of how diversity is treated in our society at large. All we are doing is mirroring a terrible system that currently exists. Even my own language of treating the lack of diversity as a "problem" that needs "fixing" is not sitting well with me. It keeps perpetuating "the other" mentality, and it has become so ingrained in me through my education and personal learning that I am having a hard time finding another way to discuss it without using that type of terminology. By no means am I trying to claim that I am an expert in this situation. I know that at various times of my life I have accidentally contributed to this continuing problem in the field. I am just stating some of my own observations and thoughts on the matter at hand. I'm very curious to what others think about the report and the larger topic being discussed in it. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair (TAHQ) is a debut novel by Joel Dicker. If you like mystery, particularly crime dramas, then this book is for you. TAHQ is quite a lengthy tome. It, quite honestly, could have been shortened down to half the length. It dragged at parts, but the plot was always intriguing enough to keep you going. The author was clearly not an American; I mention this because there are instances in the book that would not occur because of our judicial policies and procedures and stick out like a sore thumb at times. If these sorts of divorces from reality do not alter your suspension of disbelief, then you will be all right. If implausibility in reality bothers you, I would steer clear of the novel. While there were a few flaws with TAHQ, I would recommend the title overall. The writing was well done, and the plot was very engaging. Once you get to the last hundred pages, you won't be able to put the book down. A great read for those who like twists and turns! In light of the horrible actions that occurred in Charlottesville recently, and in America over the past year or so, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about diversity in literature. Diversity means "the condition of having or being composed of differing elements". It's so important to have a diverse collection for a number of reasons. It enables people to be exposed to ideas, cultures, and thoughts that are different from their own. It also allows people who are more marginalized in society to have a voice. Sometimes it can be hard to know where to start. So, I've made a list of lists of diverse books. Have any other great lists or recommendations? Add them in the comments section! Adults:
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AuthorI have worked in Education my entire life moving from K-12, to a community college, to my current position at a four year. I am fascinated by weird things and information in general. Archives
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