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)