#ilovelibraries

[philaathenaeum]

The Athenaeum of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA

#library #librarylife #ilovelibraries #books #rarebooks #ilovebooks #libraries #philly #philadelphia #reading #literature

[reviewsmayvary]

WHY IS THERE ALWAYS A SMEAR OF SOMETHING ON MY SWEATSHIRT??! . But. I digress. Don’t forget to grab your #books from the #library before the storm rolls in! . Took a stroll through the✌🏾Juvenile✌🏾 section. Damn, there are some good books featuring young people. I yoinked a few for the weekend. . QOTD: Do you read across age category? . . . #bookworm #ilovelibraries #OgdenFarmersLibrary #ReadMoreBooks (at Ogden Farmers' Library) https://www.instagram.com/p/Co-yZo4LcdX/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#books #library #bookworm #ilovelibraries #ogdenfarmerslibrary #readmorebooks

[sistahscifi]

Happy Valentine’s Day, Sistah Scifi Siblings!!! We know we have been focused on celebrating Black History // Black Future Month, but wanted to express our love and gratitude from one of our favorite local #libraries! Reposted from @oaklibrary Happy Valentine’s Day! Send these virtual #ValentinesDayCards to a friend who loves the library so you can giggle together #ValentinesDay #ValentinesDay2023 #VDay #VDayCards #Library #LibrariesOfInstagram #LibraryMemes #ILoveLibraries #CornyJokes #Puns #WordPlay #LibraryJokes #LibrarianHumor #Books #BookHumor #OaklandPublicLibrary #PublicLibrary #memes #ValentinesMemes #ValentinesDayMemes #Sistahscifi (at Oakland, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Coqge-YJOdg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#libraries #valentinesdaycards #valentinesday #valentinesday2023 #vday #vdaycards #library #librariesofinstagram #librarymemes #ilovelibraries #cornyjokes #puns #wordplay #libraryjokes #librarianhumor #books #bookhumor #oaklandpubliclibrary #publiclibrary #memes #valentinesmemes #valentinesdaymemes #sistahscifi

[zenashapter]

Thank you @randwickcitylibrary for hosting my Teen Writing Workshop today!! I was very impressed with all the incredible writing! #ilovelibraries #fabulous #creativewriting @northernbeachescreates #author #writing https://www.instagram.com/p/CjEzD6thJmR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#ilovelibraries #fabulous #creativewriting #author #writing

[granolarolla]

The Lunch Poems series is legitimately of the reasons why this school was my first choice. I’m so glad they brought it back before I graduate. #dementedandsadbutsocial #lunchpoems #ilovelibraries #poetrynerds #gobears (at University of California, Berkeley) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiQbDL9PSsW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#dementedandsadbutsocial #lunchpoems #ilovelibraries #poetrynerds #gobears

[thewarrenist]

The Summer Reading Program Kickoff is TODAY @ 10am! 📚 Stop by the Warren County Memorial Library to register!! Swipe to see some of the prizes for the top readers!! ➡️ Oh, don't have a library card? 💳 That's OK. Sign up for one while you're there! ✍️ 👍 Alsp while you're there, join the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for "Prehistoric Sea: What Lived in the Ocean Before Me?" Enjoy and Good luck!!! 🤞🏼📚 #Warrenist #WarrenCountyNC #WarrenCountyMemorialLibrary #SummerReading #NCblog #WarrentonNC #ilovereading #ilovelibraries (at Warren County, North Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cev34ZCLUvx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#warrenist #warrencountync #warrencountymemoriallibrary #summerreading #ncblog #warrentonnc #ilovereading #ilovelibraries

[archivyrep]

She-Ra, Bow, and the archives: An "archivy situation," indeed

Lance and George show the Best Friend Squad (Bow, Adora, and Glimmer) First Ones artifacts

Recently, I published an article for ilovelibraries, a division of the American Library Association. In that article, I focused on the library themes in the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, noting how the season two finale of the show, "Reunion," focused around the two middle-aged Black librarians, George and Lance, who have a library in the Whispering Woods, who are the fathers of Bow. In that episode, Bow, Adora, and Glimmer work to translate a message, with Bow reluctantly revealing his true identity after Adora releases an elemental monster, with his dads accepting him for who he is. I also noted how in the season five episode, "Return to the Fright Zone," with Bow and Glimmer looking for George and Lance, who recount a rebellion against the first settlers of the planet, the First Ones, and as I noted, an "existence of a fail-safe for the superweapon in the planet’s core." This becomes important, with the information they provided helping the show's protagonists, especially Adora and Catra, setting the stage for the final episode's groundbreaking kiss between Adora and Catra, which saves the world and universe from being destroyed by the villainy of Horde Prime. Even saying this, there is a lot more going on in this episode, with some in the archival field have talked about it, noting archival themes.

Reprinted from my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog. Originally published on Aug. 13, 2020.

The first of these is by Metadata Specialist Kathleen Smith of Treasures from the Archives, the blog of Old Dominion University Libraries Special Collections & University Archives. She writes enthusiastically about the episode, "Reunion," stating that Adora and Glimmer find Bow "in the archives," where they learn about ancient pottery and unique artifacts. She also states that she loves this episode most of all because it features a library/archive which is "complete with artifacts and rare books." She further states that the artifacts on display inside reminds her of the ancient Cypriot pottery in ODU's Special Collections’ Dudley Cooper collection while stating that she likes seeing "libraries and archives being represented animatedly." While I appreciate her words, I don't think she is completely right here, when it comes to calling the family library that Bow's dads run an "archive." I would call it a library/museum with archival qualities, which I'll expand on in the next couple paragraphs, with Bow's dads as self-defined historians of the planet's first settlers. I know that galleries, libraries, archives, and museums are "four types of cultural institutions that share a collaborative relationship stemming from their similar missions," otherwise known as GLAM, but these are not the same. The UK National Archives explains how libraries and archives are different,

The books in a library are often secondary sources of information, whereas the records in an archive are primary sources. Archives provide first-hand information or evidence relating to historical events or figures. Library books are arranged by subject and author, whereas information in archives is arranged according to the person or organisation that created it. This means that you will probably need to look at records from more than one source, or more than one archive, as you gather information.

Additionally, the SAA adds that while librarians and archivists both preserve, collect, and make materials accessible, they differ in ways they use, arrange, and use materials in their collections, with materials in archival collections often irreplaceable and unique, while "libraries can usually obtain new copies of worn-out or lost books." The same page talks about the difference between historians and archivists:

These two professions have a longstanding partnership. The archivist identifies, preserves, and makes records accessible for use; the historian uses archival records for research.

On another page, the SAA states that libraries can be defined, generally as "collections of books and/or other print or nonprint materials organized and maintained for use," with patrons accessing materials either in person, through the internet, or checking out materials for home use, with libraries existing to "make their collections available to the people they serve." They add that while archives to make their collections accessible, they differ in the types of materials they hold and how those materials are accessed.

With this being said, I think it is clear that Bow's dads operate a library, and it is what the American Library Association (ALA) calls a special library, which serves "particular populations, such as the blind and physically handicapped, while others are dedicated to special collections." Adding to this, a special library provides specific information on a particular subject, serving a specific group, and delivering services to that group. [1] In the case of the library in She-Ra, its only patrons were George, Lance, presumably Bow, and Bow's 12 brothers, before Adora and Glimmer came along, and its collections focused specifically on artifacts of the First Ones. At the same time, this library has a museum within it, which the CLIR defines as a place that identifies, acquires, preserves, and exhibits objects, while also:

[Promoting] cultural, community, and familial identity and understanding...[providing] experiences where visitors can make connections between content and ideas...[serving] as memory institutions for a culture...support[s] formal and informal learning and research...[and serving] as focal points for communities and promote community interests

While the museum in the family library does promote identity and understanding, while allowing visitors can make connections "between content and ideas," supporting learning and research, I'm not sure it is serving as a memory institution "for a culture," or a focal point for communities, as its original patrons were very limited, as I noted earlier. As such, the situation is archivy, and I'll expand on that later.

This brings me to what Samantha Cross, the Pop Archives guru, writes about the episode, "Reunion," on her blog, POP Archives, stating that while it seems like a stretch when she first considered the episode when she "witnessed the beauty that is Bow's historian fathers," she wanted to talk about it. She began by summarizing the show, noting that Bow's fathers, historians "who have no idea that he's a soldier in the resistance against the Hoard." She adds that the home of Bow's fathers is a museum/library/archive of "documents, research, and artifacts devoted to the enigmatic ancient-yet-advanced society" of the First Ones, with these dads believing Adora and Bow are Bow's schoolmates at the Academy of Historical Enterprises (an academy Bow made up), giving them a tour of their home. She further notes that even though George and Lance are called historians automatically doesn't take them out of the archives because "there are plenty of archivists who are historians and have a degree in history or started with a history major before moving into archives." Even so, she laments that the home of George and Lance isn't defined as a "particular institution," but is less thought to be an archives when a "museum or a library presents a less complex visual representation." She closes by noting the purpose of introducing Bow's family while adding that you have to "squint and imagine George and Lance appraising, selecting, arranging, and describing their First Ones collection," although she says she would enjoy seeing their "lavish history-based home in a future episode." And see that we do!

In the show’s last season, Bow’s family library makes an appearance in the episode, “Return in the Fright Zone.” In this episode, Bow and Glimmer teleport into the library to check up on his dads. The place has been abandoned and is a wreck. Thanks to a note left behind, both teleport to the Crystal Castle ruins, and find his dads there. Both recount their discoveries: an ancient rebellion against the planet’s first settlers and the existence of a fail-safe for the superweapon in the planet’s core. This information becomes vitally important in the effort by Adora, Catra, and her friends to save the world (and universe) from destruction.

Library as first seen in the episode "Reunion"

All of this begs the question: is Bow's family home a library, archives, or a museum? The fact it is basically a combination of three, it's kinda library-archives-museum hybrid, specifically a special library with a museum within and having archival qualities. This is much better than Star Wars which badly merged a library into an archives with a good number of stereotypes. Without a doubt, it is a positive depiction of libraries in animation, beginning when Glimmer and Adora entering the library unannounced at the beginning of the episode. We know that Bow's dads are academic in a sense as they are impressed by Bow going to an academy, even though it is a made-up one, and the majors his friends supposedly had. Later in the episode, George and Lance still help Adora, Glimmer, and Bow figure out a message, using a library projector, recognize it is a constellation, and where the message is being broadcast from. Of course, they both caution them to not travel there, but you can tell that they will go there anyway (as predicted in my friend's fan fiction), which happens at the beginning of Season 3.

Apart from this, I'd like to say that one of my favorite lines of the episode is uttered by Glimmer, who tells Adora "we have to find Bow and get him out of this...uh...library?" as is Adora's line about being scholars. I thought it was interesting that Glimmer is hurt by the deception from Bow, who claims she doesn't "know him" anymore, even though she misses the hints about where he came from, as Bow tells Adora in the show's second episode, "...I'm starting to get a little freaked out. I mean, I pretty much grew up in these woods and I've never even seen this part of them. I've heard of stories about weird stuff out here." Apart from saying all this, it is clear that Bow's home is, more than anything else, a giant and beautiful library, with its introduction which is proceeded by music trying to make it seem magical. It seems to be a welcoming place, where you can be offered food and drink, and full of knowledge. I also enjoyed how Adora aids Bow’s dads in translating a message as part of their three-person “Best Research Squad,” and she accidentally releases an elemental monster, causing havoc in the library.

Finally, my good friend broached this subject in a fan fiction, "The Library of the Whispering Woods,"  noting it had the "largest collection of artifacts and writings of the First Ones in all Etheria," and described it as "open to visitors and researchers." As my good friend envisioned it, this library had an open public access catalog (OPAC) allowing users to easily find relevant items and searchable, along with having many resources available so that people could continue their "quest for knowledge." This included video archives, various exhibits and rooms, and various processes in place to review their diverse and inclusive collections. My friend envisioned that Bow's dads were interested in the "open exchange of knowledge" in this special library with features which would be "befitting of an archives," with one of them even doing an oral history interview with one of the characters. This showed that this library was a "magical space with never-ending potential and promise" while it was also "a repository of knowledge which could help them all find answers." The library gave "them enough of an answer to move on to the next part of their quest."

To conclude this article, I tend to see Bow's family home as more a library than anything else, which is why, in the first version of the article I submitted to ilovelibraries, I called it a library/museum, although that was changed to a library in the published edition. There are undoubtedly archival qualities of the family library in the Whispering Woods, so it is understandable some in the field would see it as an archives. I would end by saying, from my analysis, the home itself is a special library with a museum, meaning that there are archival elements.

© 2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] Shumaker, David. "Special Libraries." In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, third edition, 4966-4974. New York: Taylor and Francis, 2011; Mount, Ellis, and Renée Massoud. Special Libraries and Information Centers: An Introductory Text. Fourth edition. Washington, DC: SLA Publishing, 1999.

#george x lance #lance x george #she ra #spop #she ra and the princess of power #libraries #archives #archival studies #archival science #artifacts #pop culture #reviews #catradora #i love libraries

[paperclippublishing]

It’s Travel Tuesday! 😍 today we are traveling to Talking Book Library located in Phoenix, AZ! #talkingbooklibrary #phoenix #phoenixaz

.

#paperclippublishing #ilovelibraries @ilovelibraries #traveltuesday #reading #booksandlibraries #literature #library #famouslibraries #travel #booklover #book #bookstagram #editor #librariesrock #gorgeous #gorgeouslibraries #gorgeousbookstore #gorgeousbookstores

.

[virginiagreene]

Please support your local library!!!!! They have tons of resources beyond your standard book, including graphic novels, audiobooks, magazines, free movie access, seminars and all kinds of wonderful stuff. Get a card today if you don't have one!⠀ #stauntonpubliclibrary #graphicnovels #makingtimetoread #basquiat #thebestwecoulddo #ayaloveinyopcity #meal #kidgloves #achineselife #journalcomic #scribble #quickdrawing #selfiecomic #supportyourlocallibrary #library #art #notabird #comic #doodle #ilovelibraries #galiapproved #catsofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CROZ9wjjg5n/?utm_medium=tumblr

#stauntonpubliclibrary #graphicnovels #makingtimetoread #basquiat #thebestwecoulddo #ayaloveinyopcity #meal #kidgloves #achineselife #journalcomic #scribble #quickdrawing #selfiecomic #supportyourlocallibrary #library #art #notabird #comic #doodle #ilovelibraries #galiapproved #catsofinstagram

[curiouscatalog]

Bower, Maurice L., 1889-1980. Your public library is free -- use it! Washington, D.C. : Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, 1919

Poster READ .Y68 E15

#poster #reading #books #womanreading #manreading #readingoutdoors #alfresco #1919 #american #libraries #ilovelibraries #bookborrowing #specialcollections #libraryofva #visualstudies #readingforpleasure #readingforfun

[rjbailey]

@Regran_ed from @dictionarycom - Pretty much @rainbowrowell. Pretty much. . . . #quote #quotes #qotd #bookperson #amreading #rainbowrowell #YA #youngadult #Yalit #lovebooks #library #ilovelibraries #reading #readeveryday #cantstopwontstop - #regrann https://www.instagram.com/p/BqIyuKrFDt5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=oaa0g2dnug68

#quote #quotes #qotd #bookperson #amreading #rainbowrowell #ya #youngadult #yalit #lovebooks #library #ilovelibraries #reading #readeveryday #cantstopwontstop #regrann

[violenttuna]

The myth of can't

The myth of can't

is the illusion we begin to believe

when things don't work out.

It is the thing that stops us from

achieving our goals,

shattering dreams.

Don't stop yourself from

doing things you want to

just because of the idea of it

seems impossible.

Just do it.

Because there's nothing

you "cannot" do.

#aspiring writer #ilovelibraries #writers on tumblr #writers #writerscreed

[bessmakes]

If you place a hold on a book in the Orange County Library System, the book gets sent directly to your house. #ilovelibraries #ocls

#ocls #ilovelibraries

[levigreenacres]

#Booklover #tattoo. #pdx #portlandtattoo #linework #coffee #books #ilovelibraries #pinkiesup https://www.instagram.com/p/BnrXQKrhho9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1sm9aw1i4fca2

#booklover #tattoo #pdx #portlandtattoo #linework #coffee #books #ilovelibraries #pinkiesup

[lizbraswell]

The lovely folk at the Kalamazoo Public Library interviewed me in five fun questions…listen up on their latest podcast! https://www.kpl.gov/podcasts/ (and in bio) @kzoolibrary #ilovelibraries https://www.instagram.com/p/CQwo-MbLoRd/?utm_medium=tumblr

#ilovelibraries

[archivyrep]

Cleo and the Ancient Egypt section of P.Y.R.A.M.I.D. library

Cleo, Akila, and Brian see the few items in the library which are presented by Khensu

Last week I piggybacked off my post on ilovelibraries and talked about She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. In this post, I'd like to talk about the other show mentioned in that post: Cleopatra in Space, and the archivy themes in the show.

Reprinted from my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog. Originally published on Aug. 20, 2020.

First of all, the school library serves as a repository for information not seized by Octavian, the show's main villain, who has destroyed all copies of recorded knowledge except his own. In the show’s third episode, “Clubbing,” Cleo, the show's protagonist, desperate to learn more about her home, travels to the school library after hours with her mentor, and possible library docent, Khensu, and her two friends Akila and Brian. As I noted in the ilovelibraries article, Khensu brings Cleo and her friends to the library’s Ancient Egypt section, where there are only a few physical records, all accessible in holographic form. I noted that if this was a real library, "these artifacts would be housed in a library’s special collections." After that Cleo is dismayed by this lack of records, so she thinks about her dad, floats in the air, glows pink, "then sucks all the electricity of the school and nearby city into her body, causing a massive power outage." After saying that, I make a broader point about saying how this moment could be indicating that "libraries need adequate resources and support to assist the communities they serve—otherwise there will be information deficits which put patrons at a disadvantage." I also note that libraries are a beloved hangout space for one of the main characters, with Akila liking to spend her time in the library studying and insists “all the cool students” spend time there too in the show’s 12 episode, "Double." I even note how she reminds me of myself in college, because "I extensively used the well-endowed campus library to study, research, and relax, even when some of my friends disliked it" for frivolous reasons.

There is something more, however. Obviously, the school library on Mayet is a "collection of published materials, including books, magazines, sound and video recordings, and other formats" with special collections which has research materials, like documents and holograms, organized by a specific focus (Ancient Egypt) and archival principles. This obviously includes provenance, referring to discussing the origin and source of the information, and the "origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection," following the SAA definition of the term, which is implied, but not directly talked about.

He first talks about access, with a screencap from that scene shown at the beginning of this article. He tells Cleo, and her friends there are "just a few dozen artifacts, fragments of scrolls, and books" about Ancient Egypt, and that she "can access it all here." At a later point, Khensu presents a document to Cleo, specifically the one that mentions her by name, as shown in the below screencap:

He hands her the document, describing it as about her, and noting it was "written long after her time." She then laments, after reading the document, that while it mentions her, she had hoped to learn more about herself. Specifically, she was looking about something when she is older, confirming she would come back. She then mentions that one of the holograms is her dad, with Khensu explaining their historical research, noting that they could find that he was one of the Ptolemys but weren't sure which one. Right after that, she begins sucking all the power out of the special collections room, the library, the P.Y.R.A.M.I.D. campus, and the nearby Mayet City. The library does not make a recurrence in the episode after this two-and-a-half-minute scene, since Cleo and her friends are trying to avoid asteroids crashing into the school, even though libraries have another significant role in the series. Akila is shown studying in the library in the episodes "Akila Says No."

There is no reappearance of the Ancient Egypt special collections room, which is tucked away in the library, shown below:

What can we make of this episode? Clearly, there are many more nods to libraries than archives in the episode. However, special collections are, as I envision them, mini-archives, often as an offshoot of libraries themselves. In that way, they operate in a library-archives space of sorts. Even so, Khensu is, in his role as Cleo's mentor and something equivalent to a library curator, is identifying and preserving essential records which "document the cultural heritage of society," assumedly helping organize and maintain "the documentary record of institutions, groups, communities, and individuals," specifically of those from Ancient Egypt, to summarize from the stated duties in the SAA's Core Values of Archivists. While he is undoubtedly helping interpret "documentation of past events through the use of primary source materials," like Cleo herself, it is hard to say who uses this special collections room. Presumably, Callie, Cleo's "archnemesis" at the high school, who heads the Ancient Egypt club, uses the room, but who else? The library, as a whole, seems well-used, as shown in other episodes, but what about the special collections? Sadly, it seems like special collections and archives were used as a plot device to help Cleo learn about herself. And since she is dissatisfied with the number of records they have, she will not be returning. The series is generally from her point of view, apart from some scenes from the perspective of Octavian, this room will likely never be shown again. That is deeply unfortunate.

In the end, I have mixed feelings about the special collections room in this episode. On the one hand, it serves an important role in the story, but on the other, there is a sense of inadequacy about the records they have. Khensu does not have the mentality of Jocasta Nu, that if a record does not exist in the archives, it does not exist, but their historical understanding is still limited. In any case, highlighting these themes in the show will helpfully encourage others to analyze shows they like for similar themes, learn more about special collections, and archives themselves. So, that is the positive that can be gleaned from this series.

© 2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#cleopatra in space #libraries #special collections #archives #archival science #archival studies #library science #i love libraries #pop culture #reviews #jocasta nu #star wars #cats #record loss