Submission Type
Paper Abstract Submission
Symposium Selection
Equity, diversity, and inclusion
Keywords
public libraries, public sphere theory, library history, Edward Edwards, democracy
Abstract
Back to the Future! Library History as Forecast: Discovering Core Concepts of Librarianship in the Public Library’s Past
UNESCO and IFLA have a longstanding history in influencing librarianship from an international perspective: their joint ‘Public Library Manifesto’ (1994) describes “well-informed citizens”, with the ability to “exercise their democratic rights and to play an active role in society” as “depend[ing] on … free and unlimited access to knowledge, thought, culture and information” (UNESCO/IFLA, 1994). Without such savvy citizenry, the manifesto suggests, “[f]reedom, prosperity and the development of society” as fundamental human values may come to be in flux. Positioning the public library as an “essential agent” in this process, it being “the local gateway”, the 1949 original manifesto also declares “[t]he public library: a democratic agency”, and decrees an international commitment to it being “established under the clear mandate of law - it should be maintained wholly from public funds” (Thomas, 1992). While Buschman (2007) and Buckland (2008) may disagree on the exact loci of democratic theory in relation to LIS, Larsen (2020) reminds us that, at least in Nordic countries, “several national laws on public libraries have been reformulated to encompass the libraries roles as public spheres” and that they have a “democratic and inclusive mission”, with Buschman (2021) noting “[t]he library-in-the-life-of-the-public-sphere raises salient questions of libraries and their role in democratic societies: what are they for and what do they do?”. This paper, also taking its lead from Black (1996; 2006) and Wiegand’s (2011) historiographic approach, explores 19thc. English public library legislation in the context of public sphere theory (Arendt, Habermas, Warner, Fraser), suggesting the public library’s potential as the UR-site of democratic counterpublic discourse.
Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Univer. of Chicago, 1998).
Alistair Black, A New History of the English Public Library: Social and Intellectual Contexts, 1850-1914 (London: Leicester University Press, 1996).
Michael Buckland, "Democratic theory in library information science." Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 59.9 (2008): 1534-1534.
John Buschman, “Democratic theory in library information science: Toward an emendation”, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 51.14 (2007): 1483–1496; "How not to research public spheres: A new “dream of a physics of librarianship”", Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science 44.1 (2021): 1-18.
Nancy Fraser, "Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy", Social text 25/26 (1990): 56-80.
Jürgen Habermas, The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society (MIT press, 1991).
UNESCO, ‘Public Library Manifesto’ (Paris: 16 May, 1949), pp. 1-3.
IFLA/UNESCO, “Public Library Manifesto”. https://www.ifla.org/publications/iflaunesco-public-library-manifesto-1994.
H. Larsen, ‘Theorizing Public Libraries as Public Spheres in Library and Information Science’, iConference 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12051.
Barbro Thomas, UNESCO Public Library Manifesto, IFLA General Conference, 1992.
Michael Warner, "Publics and counterpublics" (New York: Zone Books, 2002).
Wayne A. Wiegand, Main Street Public Library: Community Places and Reading Spaces in the Rural Heartland, 1876-1956 (Iowa: University Iowa Press, 2011): 182.
Included in
Back to the Future! Library History as Forecast: Discovering Core Concepts of Librarianship in the Public Library’s Past
Back to the Future! Library History as Forecast: Discovering Core Concepts of Librarianship in the Public Library’s Past
UNESCO and IFLA have a longstanding history in influencing librarianship from an international perspective: their joint ‘Public Library Manifesto’ (1994) describes “well-informed citizens”, with the ability to “exercise their democratic rights and to play an active role in society” as “depend[ing] on … free and unlimited access to knowledge, thought, culture and information” (UNESCO/IFLA, 1994). Without such savvy citizenry, the manifesto suggests, “[f]reedom, prosperity and the development of society” as fundamental human values may come to be in flux. Positioning the public library as an “essential agent” in this process, it being “the local gateway”, the 1949 original manifesto also declares “[t]he public library: a democratic agency”, and decrees an international commitment to it being “established under the clear mandate of law - it should be maintained wholly from public funds” (Thomas, 1992). While Buschman (2007) and Buckland (2008) may disagree on the exact loci of democratic theory in relation to LIS, Larsen (2020) reminds us that, at least in Nordic countries, “several national laws on public libraries have been reformulated to encompass the libraries roles as public spheres” and that they have a “democratic and inclusive mission”, with Buschman (2021) noting “[t]he library-in-the-life-of-the-public-sphere raises salient questions of libraries and their role in democratic societies: what are they for and what do they do?”. This paper, also taking its lead from Black (1996; 2006) and Wiegand’s (2011) historiographic approach, explores 19thc. English public library legislation in the context of public sphere theory (Arendt, Habermas, Warner, Fraser), suggesting the public library’s potential as the UR-site of democratic counterpublic discourse.
Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Univer. of Chicago, 1998).
Alistair Black, A New History of the English Public Library: Social and Intellectual Contexts, 1850-1914 (London: Leicester University Press, 1996).
Michael Buckland, "Democratic theory in library information science." Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 59.9 (2008): 1534-1534.
John Buschman, “Democratic theory in library information science: Toward an emendation”, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 51.14 (2007): 1483–1496; "How not to research public spheres: A new “dream of a physics of librarianship”", Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science 44.1 (2021): 1-18.
Nancy Fraser, "Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy", Social text 25/26 (1990): 56-80.
Jürgen Habermas, The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society (MIT press, 1991).
UNESCO, ‘Public Library Manifesto’ (Paris: 16 May, 1949), pp. 1-3.
IFLA/UNESCO, “Public Library Manifesto”. https://www.ifla.org/publications/iflaunesco-public-library-manifesto-1994.
H. Larsen, ‘Theorizing Public Libraries as Public Spheres in Library and Information Science’, iConference 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12051.
Barbro Thomas, UNESCO Public Library Manifesto, IFLA General Conference, 1992.
Michael Warner, "Publics and counterpublics" (New York: Zone Books, 2002).
Wayne A. Wiegand, Main Street Public Library: Community Places and Reading Spaces in the Rural Heartland, 1876-1956 (Iowa: University Iowa Press, 2011): 182.