Libraries and Democracy

Libraries and Democracy
Author: Nancy Kranich
Publisher: American Library Association
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2001
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780838908082

From Librarian of Congress, James Billington, to founding director of the Center for the Book, John Cole, the leading-edge information specialists of the day share their insights on the role libraries play in advancing democracy.

Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library

Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library
Author: Ed D'Angelo
Publisher: Library Juice Press, LLC
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2014-05-14
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1936117231

Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library is a philosophical and historical analysis of how the rise of consumerism has led to the decline of the original mission of public libraries to sustain and promote democracy through civic education. Through a reading of historical figures such as Plato, Helvetius, Rousseau, and John Stuart Mill, the book shows how democracy and even capitalism were originally believed to depend upon the moral and political education that public libraries (and other institutions of rational public discourse) could provide. But as capitalism developed in the 20th century it evolved into a postmodern consumerism that replaced democracy with consumerism and education with entertainment. Public libraries have mistakenly tried to remain relevant by shadowing the rise of consumerism, but have instead contributed to the rise of a new barbarism and the decline of democracy.

The Little Free Library Book

The Little Free Library Book
Author: Margret Aldrich
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS
ISBN: 9781566894074

LFL history, quirky and poignant firsthand stories, a resource guide, and some of the most creative and inspired LFLs around.

Confronting the Democratic Discourse of Librarianship

Confronting the Democratic Discourse of Librarianship
Author: Sam Popowich
Publisher:
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2019
Genre: Libraries
ISBN: 9781634000871

Taking a broadly Marxist approach, Confronting the Democratic Discourse of Librarianship traces the connections between library history and the larger history of capitalist development.

Libraries, Archives and Museums as Democratic Spaces in a Digital Age

Libraries, Archives and Museums as Democratic Spaces in a Digital Age
Author: Ragnar Audunson
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2020-09-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 311063662X

Libraries, archives and museums have traditionally been a part of the public sphere's infrastructure. They have been so by providing public access to culture and knowledge, by being agents for enlightenment and by being public meeting places in their communities. Digitization and globalization poses new challenges in relation to upholding a sustainable public sphere. Can libraries, archives and museums contribute in meeting these challenges?

Enhancing Democracy

Enhancing Democracy
Author: Gonzalo Delamaza
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2014-11-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1782385479

Since the end of the Pinochet regime, Chilean public policy has sought to rebuild democratic governance in the country. This book examines the links between the state and civil society in Chile and the ways social policies have sought to ensure the inclusion of the poor in society and democracy. Although Chile has gained political stability and grown economically, the ability of social policies to expand democratic governance and participation has proved limited, and in fact such policies have become subordinate to an elitist model of democracy and resulted in a restrictive form of citizen participation.

Main Street Public Library

Main Street Public Library
Author: Wayne A. Wiegand
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2011-10-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1609380681

The United States has more public libraries than it has McDonald’s restaurants. By any measure, the American public library is a heavily used and ubiquitous institution. Popular thinking identifies the public library as a neutral agency that protects democratic ideals by guarding against censorship as it makes information available to people from all walks of life. Among librarians this idea is known as the “library faith.” But is the American public library as democratic as it appears to be? In Main Street Public Library, eminent library historian Wayne Wiegand studies four emblematic small-town libraries in the Midwest from the late nineteenth century through the federal Library Service Act of 1956, and shows that these institutions served a much different purpose than is so often perceived. Rather than acting as neutral institutions that are vital to democracy, the libraries of Sauk Centre, Minnesota; Osage, Iowa; Rhinelander, Wisconsin; and Lexington, Michigan, were actually mediating community literary values and providing a public space for the construction of social harmony. These libraries, and the librarians who ran them, were often just as susceptible to the political and social pressures of their time as any other public institution. By analyzing the collections of all four libraries and revealing what was being read and why certain acquisitions were passed over, Wiegand challenges both traditional perceptions and professional rhetoric about the role of libraries in our small-town communities. While the American public library has become essential to its local community, it is for reasons significantly different than those articulated by the “library faith.”

Strong Democracy

Strong Democracy
Author: Benjamin Barber
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2003
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780520242333

"One of the chosen few: an enduring contribution to democratic thought."—Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University