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Why every way of organizing a library hides something

A library has to choose where to shelve each physical copy, even when a subject bridges physics, music, and history. Classification systems make browsing possible, but each arrangement reveals some connections more readily than others. Explore what a shelf location highlights and how catalogs can offer additional paths.

3–5 min

Questions you could explore

  • Why can the same interdisciplinary book be difficult to place on one shelf?
  • How can a catalog help readers find connections that a physical shelf arrangement makes harder to see?

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Media and information

What makes a historical source primary?

A diary and a history book stand in different relationships to the past, but neither is automatically beyond question. What counts as a primary source also depends on what you are trying to find out.

3–5 min

What makes a historical source primary?

Media and information3–5 minA diary and a history book stand in different relationships to the past, but neither is automatically beyond question. What counts as a primary source also depends on what you are trying to find out.

Media and information

Following a web claim back to its source

Five webpages repeating the same claim may lead back to one original report. Lateral reading looks beyond an unfamiliar page to investigate its publisher; following links upstream helps reveal where the evidence began.

8–10 min

Following a web claim back to its source

Media and information8–10 minFive webpages repeating the same claim may lead back to one original report. Lateral reading looks beyond an unfamiliar page to investigate its publisher; following links upstream helps reveal where the evidence began.

Media and information

What can a photo’s metadata actually prove?

An image file may carry a date, camera information, or a caption alongside its pixels. Those details can be useful clues, but some can be changed or removed as a file is edited and shared.

4–5 min

What can a photo’s metadata actually prove?

Media and information4–5 minAn image file may carry a date, camera information, or a caption alongside its pixels. Those details can be useful clues, but some can be changed or removed as a file is edited and shared.

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