Elaina Granse
Elaina Granse
In our day and age, information is an incredibly important and valuable item, and disinformation is a very powerful tool. The United States used to be number 1 in world literacy, today we are number 31 according to the World Population Review. The rising social pressures of book bans take on a violent tinge as librarians are threatened with physical violence. There is a growing issue of banning books and trying to control what people can learn and dropping literacy rates. Libraries in some places have become shelters, in others they have drawn danger. My professional philosophy in essence is to help those that I can, to find their joy and peace. I am a librarian, and so whoever comes through my doors, I carry a duty of care for. To help them learn, and grow, and discover, to find something even when the world seems a terrible, cruel, and ugly place, there is and will be a safe haven.
My professional goals are to work with a textile collection, teaching others about this topic that I love, so that others might also find joy in it. A great deal of history is tide to textiles, from the plant or animal that made the fiber, to the people who spun it on cold winter nights swapping stories, to the weavers who wove it into carpets or tapestries or cloth, to the people who wore the cloth until it was rags, used the carpets on their floors, and hung tapestries to keep out the draft. This ties in with SLO 1 Information for People: Demonstrate understanding of the philosophical, historical, and ethical foundations of the field and apply library and information science principles and practices. I want to know and understand everything on this topic so that I can share it with others.