library of congress peter west-oram
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Presentation on Library of Congress by Peter West-Oram given at IPS event 2012TRANSCRIPT
Peter West-OramAHRC IPS Presentation: November 2012
Researching Human Rights and Health Care at the Library of Congress
My Research: Global Justice, Health Care and Human Rights
Focuses on the human need for basic health care
Examines relationship between lack of access to health care and reduced quality of life
Attempting to establish an argument for this right, and the requirements of it
Some empirical examples, but a philosophical claim
My Research: Important points for the Library of Congress
Philosophy PhD Applied Ethics and Moral Philosophy Importantly, not historical or archival
research Also, not political science(though I will talk
about this in a moment) Not quite ‘armchair philosophy’, but almost
Why the Library of Congress?
Enormous array of resources Opportunity for uninterrupted research timeOpportunity to visit other research institutes in
the city (Think tanks and Universities) Proximity to other archives in Washington
D.C. Washington D.C. Seemed like an interesting
place to liveOpportunities for networking
My Original Goal
Original focus was on international health care policy development
Particular focus at time of application on how policy is made.
Intended to focus on very specific sections of the Library collection (the Public Aspects of Medicine Collection)
Aimed to visit other research institutes in Washington and the Eastern USA
Some facts about the Library and the Kluge Center
LOC has over one million items All of them are available to Kluge
Fellows MOST of them will be delivered to you
at your cubicle in the Kluge Center Those you cannot get delivered you
can visit or collect yourself
What I Actually Did Intention to visit other research institutes in the USA
disappeared – too many books, not enough time I did attend several events at the Brookings Institute Did try to meet with academics at Georgetown and the
Kennedy Institute for Ethics – unfortunately it never happened
Doubled the amount of sources I had in the first three months of my fellowship
Did research in a much wider range than originally anticipated (mostly medicine and health care though)
Focused more generally on health impacts, though through health policy
Research Outcomes Research for three conference papers Worked on two papers whilst at the LOC Research for another two derived from the research I
did (a third submitted at the moment) More than doubled the amount of research
documents read Research used for two (and probably more) chapters
of my thesis Paper given on my research whilst at the LOC
(everyone does this)
About the Kluge Center The Kluge Center is an interdisciplinary
research cluster (almost all social sciences and the Humanities)
Scholars from all over the world Post-docs, senior research fellows, staff
fellows, government researchers and AHRC fellows
Regular presentations from all scholars Unbelievably helpful and friendly staff You do not have enough time
Things to think about Talk to your Librarian Area specialist Try to arrive near the beginning of the academic
year Have a specific plan (which will probably change) Take advantage of the expertise of staff Contact people in nearby Universities/relevant
institutions before you go The congressional research team is apparently very
good at helping you find policy related stuff Time away from University? Don’t worry There is not enough time at the Library
Things to think about 2 Some parts of Washington are nicer than
others Try and live near a metro station (the metro
is often rubbish at weekends) Arrange accommodation before you go Talk to current resident scholars to get
recommendations for where to liveLiving in Virginia or Maryland is do-able if you
are near the metro (though you will have a longer commute)