Today, students from the Faculty of Information will hold a “Dare To Ask” challenge where they will answer questions to all who come to them. There are two objectives to the event; 1) raising money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation (a charitable organization that focuses on the AIDS crisis in Africa) and 2) “to raise awareness about the role of information workers (librarians, archivists, museum workers, journalists, writers) in their communities. The students believe that a key role of information workers is to be socially active members of the communities they serve.” It is an interesting idea and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like it before.
The issue of library/information philanthropy is something I’ve been thinking about lately. There are plenty of options for those interested in pursuing this route – donating money to literacy campaigns run by public libraries, helping academic libraries expand their services or you can even sponsor a book in need of preservation at the British Library and more. These are all worthy goals and should not be discounted. I do wonder if library/information philanthropy of that type is a bit too backward looking. Charitable activity is a competitive space with all kinds of good causes vying for attention. What kind of program would best distinguish information services from other causes? I would speculate that a focus on services may work better over the long run than a focus on collections or buildings.
Related posts:
