Lots of Links

A few things I've been reading lately that I didn't want to pass without comment:

The suicide of Aaron Swartz made the regular news, but LJ and Jessamyn West have a nice collection of information about the Internet activist who worked so hard for increased access to information online. His aggressive prosecution for intending to freely distribute JSTOR content online has been widely listed as a contributing factor to his untimely demise. Interestingly enough, JSTOR recently announced that they're opening their collection to the public on a limited basis. So why was the government still pursuing such harsh sentencing for him?

There's also been a lot of talk about feminism and the sneaky ways that's it's still hard to be successful as a woman at work. Hi Miss Julie had some interesting things to say about how big flashy things often championed by male librarians are what tend to get recognition in librarianship, while the less flashy, practical everyday details often focused on by female librarians get little notice. This is a little older, but, as usual, Kelly Jensen makes a really good point about how often women are encouraged to "be nice" and just how condescending it is. Then there are the wardrobe considerations to keep in mind. There's something in each of these posts that lines up with at least some part of my experience as a librarian.

I wish I had more positive links to share. While I'm clear-eyed enough to see problems in the profession, I still love being a librarian and think this is the best job in the world. Maybe I'll have some good news to share later.