Civic Librarianship: Renewing the Social Mission of the Public Library

Citation

Intner, S.S. (2002), "Civic Librarianship: Renewing the Social Mission of the Public Library", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 58 No. 5, pp. 584-602. https://doi.org/10.1108/jd.2002.58.5.584.6

This is a timely book, addressing a variety of issues besetting public libraries as the twenty‐first century progresses from an unfathomable future full of unknown but compelling problems (remember when we lost sleep over Y2K?) to ordinary present‐day living in which librarians navigate with a great deal of uncertainty in an increasingly complex world. The author questions whether the traditional mission of public libraries should change and, if so, how? What is happening in the communities in which public libraries function? What kinds of services should they offer? What about politics and libraries? What might the future bring?

The author takes his subject seriously and treats it in depth. He has produced a scholarly treatise that begins with the philosophical underpinnings from which the American public library as we know it sprang, examines the institution’s recent history, and brings his analyses to bear on answering the questions posed above. Building his case slowly and carefully, McCabe concludes that the future of our libraries lies in a return to their original mission: educating community members who are living in a democratic (small “d”) society and, therefore, need all the education they can get.

One might question, immediately, whether this book can be of interest to people living beyond the borders of the USA. I believe it is fair to answer “yes”. So long as a society is truly democratic – that is to say, ruled by laws created by the people themselves and their freely elected representatives – the ideas discussed in this book can apply, albeit they may take outward forms more familiar to each different locale in which public libraries exist. The notion that a democratic society requires an educated public is neither new nor startling, nor is the USA the sole society that enjoys democracy.

The book begins with a foreword by Sarah Ann Long, former president of the American Library Association who took “Libraries build community” as her presidential theme, and developed it with McCabe’s assistance. It is followed by acknowledgements and an author’s introduction. In his introduction, the author explains his thesis: for the first time since divisive social conflict began in the 1960s and continued through the turbulent 1990s and into the turn of the century, Americans are beginning to come together once again, and public libraries can and should be part of this renewal process. Mentions of the tragedy of 11 September, 2001, are entirely absent; therefore, this reviewer believes Civic Librarianship was completed and printed before it happened. No doubt, McCabe could have added to his thesis based on the strength and the swiftness of Americans’ reactions to the 11 September attack.

The lion’s share of the text is contained in 12 chapters, as follows:

1. 1.

   (1) America’s cultural civil war.

2. 2.

   (2) The libertarian public library.

3. 3.

   (3) The community movement.

4. 4.

   (4) Civic librarianship.

5. 5.

   (5) Restoring democratic social authority.

6. 6.

   (6) Renewing the educational mission.

7. 7.

   (7) A center for the community.

8. 8.

   (8) Strategies for building communities.

9. 9.

   (9) Library services in a social context.

10. 10.

    (10) Strengthening library politics.

11. 11.

    (11) Specific professional concerns.

12. 12.

    (12) The future of the public library.

The book closes with a bibliography augmenting numerous sources cited within each chapter, an index, and a brief biographical note.

In chapter 1, McCabe explores the American cultural civil war of the 1960s. He sees it as a clash between rationalism and romanticism, with ideas of the latter fueling a powerful counterculture. He sees the rise of antisocial, antigovernmental, antieducational values in the 1980s as having had a profound impact on public libraries, turning them into what he calls “libertarian” public libraries. This theme is further elaborated in chapter 2, exploring the revisionist theories of library historians Michael Harris and Dee Garrison that discredited the public library’s original republican mission. In chapter 3, he describes the rise of a new communitarianism in the 1990s, led by thinkers like Amitai Etzioni. In concluding this long chapter, he says:

Community movement ideas have made a major contribution to ending cultural warfare and political gridlock … The goal is to protect the autonomy of individuals and groups while developing a basic moral and social framework that everyone can support (p. 69).

At this point, the stage is set for the author’s principal theme to be expounded.

In chapter 4, McCabe defines the concept of civic librarianship as:

Strengthen[ing] communities through developmental strategies that renew the public library’s mission of education for a democratic society (p. 77).

Its goal is to restore confidence in public libraries and librarians as elements in the larger fabric of social authority, renew the public library’s historical mission of education, and develop the public library as a center of the community. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 explore these matters further in a theoretical context, while chapters 8, 9, and 10 get down to the nitty‐gritty, “how to get it done” issues. (Social Information Science, by Shifra Baruchson‐Arbib, published by Sussex Academic in 1996, goes much further in describing the potential benefits to society of the social connections that can be accomplished via public library services.)

In chapter 11, McCabe examines appropriate responses of the profession, including changes in public library education and recruitment, and development of collections and services that serve the goals of civic librarianship. In chapter 12, he forsees a “great reintegration” of the public library in society and concludes by urging action in the following words:

The mission of the public library is the greatest purpose in a democracy, the mission of public education. It is time for library leaders to once again embrace this mission … (p. 160).

Hardly larger than a small‐sized scholarly journal issue, the book’s outward modesty belies the scope of its contents. The look of the pages is attractive, but its very fine print (even finer in the quoted sections, of which there are many) will tax readers’ ability to spend long periods with it. Still, taken in small doses, as this reviewer did, readers can appreciate its physical attributes – the formatting is attractive, margins are good, and white space is relatively abundant. After a while, one grows accustomed to the fact that everything is recognizably smaller than in the professional books to which we have grown accustomed – it reminds me of a miniature, though it is not.

Civic Librarianship ought to be read by all library leaders – not just public library leaders – as well as community leaders and the town government officials who dole out the money to support their public libraries – too often in far too miserly a fashion. Academic, school, and special library leaders may believe its focus solely on public libraries excuses them from bearing any responsibility for what it says. This attitude is counterproductive and fails to recognize that paradigm shifts in public libraries cannot help but impact all other parts of the library and information worlds, including its commercial sectors. In the end of the day, however, it will be up to ordinary public librarians currently working in libraries of all sizes to educate the people in their communities about the importance of what they do. For that reason, this book is strongly recommended to them, first of all, and to the rest of those mentioned if they can be persuaded, cajoled, scolded, or embarrassed into reading it.