Chapter Four -- "The Power of It"

This was a very thought-provoking chapter. The part that I found most salient to librarians was the part where the one mother found herself in the library of her children's school. Looking at what was available on African-Americans, she found the offerings a bit skimpy. I love that she contacted the librarian and worked with her to find and purchase books that were a considerable improvement over what was previously available to the students. What I took home from this was to be humble, to be open. I have to be secure enough in my position that I can accept that I don't know everything about everything. Patrons have much that they can teach me, and I just have to be willing to listen. Of course, I also have to have a critical eye to what they tell me, and to find validation through other sources, but it's entirely possible that beneficial change can be intiated by patrons -- the library is there for them, after all!

Chapter Five -- "The Sacred and the Profane"

One of my other classes spends a lot of time talking about this difference between reading and writing. One of our recent readings talks about how they were historically very different skills. Girls were just as likely as boys to be readers in the early days of America, but were not likely to have been taught how to write, because it was seen as a technical or vocational skill, and that sewing was the feminine counterpart to the masculine skill of writing. I think that Brandt makes a good attempt to show that these attitudes toward the two skills have been perpetuated. Writing is connected to your income. I find that fascinating, and think that so many programs could be started to target people with poor writing skills to help them. It would, perhaps, behoove them more than a reading program would -- partly because the reading has to come along with the writing. The only problem is that few people, I think, would be interested in enrolling in such classes and programs precisely because writing is seen as punitive and boring in comparison to reading. Perhaps we need to revamp writing's image.

Chapter Six -- "The Means of Production"

Brandt here is defining literacy in a very broad way. Is knowing another language, especially a computer language, another form of literacy? I don't know that it is; I think the skills of reading and writing can definitely apply to foreign languages, but I don't think they're new skills. It's a form of taking what's already known and applying it in a new context. I did think it was interesting that Brandt found two people whose applications of skill were rewarded in two very different ways -- and I would venture would be treated differently now than they were in the past. Lopez's skill would definitely be seen as more of a plus, and would probably be cultivated now, whereas Branch would have had formal classes in computer languages in high school. It's interesting to note how fast things can change in such a short amount of time.