Stephen Francoeur's Commonplace Book

The online debate between Mike Ridley and John Mediema heats up as they prep for a face-to-face debate over literacy. Pull quote from Ridley’s latest: “Apparently John [Mediema] thinks debating me in a room full of librarians is going to be a slam dunk. After all he says ‘placing boundaries on information is what libraries are good at: classification, indexing, location.’ Sure, maybe. In 1910. Or perhaps even in 2010. But this is where we have been, not where we are going (or need to go). The librarians I know don’t define themselves by their buildings, information containers, or catalogues; they are grounded by values that inform an attitude towards ideas and human potential. Librarians, despite our dour image in the popular media, have always been subversive. Breaking boundaries is our professional credo.”