From September 1, 2012 to October 31, 2012, Armacost Library will be celebrating the cornerstone concept of Intellectual Freedom. This is our way of observing a significant theme that runs through many of our events this fall semester: Constitution Day (September 17), Banned Books Week (September 30-October 6), National Information Literacy Awareness Month (October), and International Open Access Week (October 22-28).
We are opening up our weblog space to writers from the University of Redlands community. Students, faculty, staff members, and administrators are welcome to submit posts with the general theme of "intellectual freedom." Comments are also welcome.
What do I send? What
do I write about?
Overall, the topic of the post needs to be about matters
concerning intellectual freedom, a wide, multi-sided subject. The writer point-of-view can be personal and subjective or
academic and objective.
Some guidelines:
- Must meet the overarching topic of intellectual
freedom. See the topic suggestions below.
- 200-1000 words, please.
- We prefer prose, but poetry is also welcome. For
this campaign, we want to limit things to written words.
- Send along an accompanying emblematic image.
Just make sure you send along a caption too. We’ll put up your text and image
in the same post.
- Ensure accuracy of your factual assertions. Make
references to resources (online or otherwise). If your post has been adapted
from a previous work you’ve done, please let us know this too, so we can make
note of it on your post.
- Have a title and tags for your post.
- Consider the venue (a blog) and your audience
(who’s going to read your post). Blog posts are often written in an informal
yet engaging voice, so writing in a conversational way is acceptable. If you’re
more comfortable writing with a more academic, technical, or formal style, that
will also be acceptable. Structure and grammar help writers convey their
thoughts to their readers in a more meaningful way. Please use them!
- Do you want to submit your post anonymously? We
can accommodate that. We’ll just say “a UofR student,” “a UofR administrator,” or whatever is
appropriate. Just let us know. If you do want to be identified, please include
your major and your class year (i.e., 2012, 2013, 2014, etc.) with your name,
if you are a student. If you are a faculty, staff or administration member,
please include your department and title with your name. By default, we’ll
assume you want to be identified, so please be sure to say if this is not the
case.
Some topic ideas:
- Censorship of scientific research results.
- I love <insert banned book, film title
here> because….
- A particular instance of censorship or
intellectual freedom challenge, current or otherwise.
- I value my freedom to read and view as a
<insert role here; i.e., parent, instructor, student, etc.> because….
- Value of reading literature.
- Connection of freedom to read/view with other
freedoms (i.e., freedom of speech, freedom to express, freedom to congregate,
freedom to demonstrate, etc.).
- Connection of freedoms (see above and below) to matters of
equity, social justice, advocacy and diversity.
- This list is not comprehensive.
What do I need to do
to participate?
Send a copy of your post to any of
Armacost Library’s faculty, following the above guidelines. Email
is the best method to send your post submission. Put ALIF in the subject line.
This will help us field your submission faster.
We
will contact you about your submission to let you know when it will be posted.
Be sure to return to Armacost Library News to see new comments and posts.
How has a particular work of science, literature, film, theater, or art affected you? We welcome your thoughts.
Melissa Cardenas-Dow
Outreach/Behavioral Sciences Librarian
Armacost Library, University of Redlands
melissa_cardenasdow (a) redlands (dot) edu
909.748.8089
