Substack ate my very long comment. I have taught LIS for many years. It was essential we address past issues regarding historical topics like segregated libraries or lack of
attention to the treatment children in books for them.
But you are corect that today in LIS education there is little attention to broader contexts. LIS education is accredited by the American Library Association.
I advise students with interest in religious-based librarianship to join the American Theological Library Association: to join https://www.atla.com/about/
Last year a colleague and I addressed "Incuriosity of Librarians and Media in Non-Traditional Content and Sources: The Twitter Files as a Case Study," but the library press was not interested. It was published here last July. https://hxlibraries.substack.com/p/incuriosity-of-librarians-and-media.
Yes, LIS has needed in the past need to be more responsive to diversity--and this was addressed by Rollins, Baker, Larrick, Reese.
A few major writers who addressed these issues.
*Rollins, Charlemae Hill. We Build Together: A Reader’s Guide to Negro Life and Literature for Elementary and High School Use. Chicago: National Council of Teachers of English, 1941. (Revised editions 1948 and 1967.)
*Baker, Augusta. Books about Negro Life for Children. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. (Later editions retitled The Black Experience in Children’s Books.)
*Baker, Augusta. “The Changing Image of the Black in Children’s Literature.” The Horn Book Magazine, February 1975.Nancy Larrick (White)
*Larrick, Nancy. “The All-White World of Children’s Books.” Saturday Review 48 (September 11, 1965): 63–65, 84–85.Pura Belpré (Puerto Rican/Latina)
*Reese, Debbie. “Indigenizing Children’s Literature.” Journal of Language and Literacy Education 4, no. 2 (2008): 59–72.
*Reese, Debbie. “Critical Indigenous Literacies: Selecting and Using Children’s Books about Indigenous Peoples.” Language Arts 95, no. 5 (May 2018): 269–80.
It's pretty disturbing to read that librarians are being trained to not simply provide patrons with what they ask for, to answer any questions they might have, or to point them to resources consistent with their requests that they might not know or have thought of. That was thankfully my experience when I worked with librarians and archivists extensively, which was several decades ago. They viewed their job as helping me to achieve my research goals, not telling me what I should research or think.
Sad. But welcome to librarianship! I still love it, even though I have left mainstream institutions.
It took ~5 years of studying "fake news" etc for my own progressive ideological assumptions to break down and then find that I no longer fit in. I likewise found that many do indeed have a certainty and incuriosity that comes with the belief of holding the moral high ground. This is true in both progressive and conservative circles, but it is secular progressivism that has taken hold of the major public institutions.
The core truths in the virtues of humility and empathy have been wrapped in lies.
It is, of course, ironic that the places that champion diversity and inclusion are so intolerant.
I took my MLIS over 30 years ago, and none of this political agenda was part of the curriculum; indeed, we were taught to guard against censorship in all its forms. How sad that this mentality is going to infect the profession for decades to come.
Your excellent account should be reproduced in every newspaper serving a town in which the community is struggling with the appropriateness of the books in children's collections. It's high time this mystique of the high-minded nobility of the ALA-blessed library degree be skewered. I've watched my beloved profession turn into a monstrosity over the last 50 years and it breaks my heart.
I attended a top MLIS school more than twenty years ago, and the faculty openly admitted to being liberal, but worked hard to consider alternative viewpoints.
This is sad and scary, and doesn't bode well for the future of librarianship if librarians consider themselves the guardian of information and truth rather than facilitators of people finding information and searching for truth.
I have been in LIS eduction coming on 30 years and have watched as these tides have shifted. As Michael notes below, a few decades ago it was much different in any given LIS Program (including at conferences). Courses were basically all face-to-face at that time, which I do think had an impact, but students could discuss all sort of issues (e.g. CIPA, patriot act, policy towards homeless, freedom of inquiry and equality of access....) with hearty debate and without fear of retribution from fellow grad students or faculty. Indeed, even the most leftist faculty would be the ones encouraging these discussions, such as during our journal club at the local coffee shop as well as in class. I know the kind of feelings the author of this piece noted are real for some students across LIS programs nationally, and they come from real situations and actions. It hits particularly hard given the foundations of librarianship are based on intellectual freedom and inquiry that drew many of us to the field. I can say not all programs are like that (my own program is more open to diversity of thought; at least I like to think that, and have seen evidence supporting it). Some states are trying to mandate this or that in university curricula with the intention of fostering greater diversity of inquiry, but the real change will need to come from one's own university and in one's program. We have an active First Amendment student group at ours, for instance, as well as faculty who work to help integrate the "HxA way" across campus. Hopefully these kinds of efforts will help fight back against the compulsion some feel to shut down ideas simply because they disagree with them.
Substack ate my very long comment. I have taught LIS for many years. It was essential we address past issues regarding historical topics like segregated libraries or lack of
attention to the treatment children in books for them.
But you are corect that today in LIS education there is little attention to broader contexts. LIS education is accredited by the American Library Association.
I advise students with interest in religious-based librarianship to join the American Theological Library Association: to join https://www.atla.com/about/
Last year a colleague and I addressed "Incuriosity of Librarians and Media in Non-Traditional Content and Sources: The Twitter Files as a Case Study," but the library press was not interested. It was published here last July. https://hxlibraries.substack.com/p/incuriosity-of-librarians-and-media.
Yes, LIS has needed in the past need to be more responsive to diversity--and this was addressed by Rollins, Baker, Larrick, Reese.
A few major writers who addressed these issues.
*Rollins, Charlemae Hill. We Build Together: A Reader’s Guide to Negro Life and Literature for Elementary and High School Use. Chicago: National Council of Teachers of English, 1941. (Revised editions 1948 and 1967.)
*Baker, Augusta. Books about Negro Life for Children. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. (Later editions retitled The Black Experience in Children’s Books.)
*Baker, Augusta. “The Changing Image of the Black in Children’s Literature.” The Horn Book Magazine, February 1975.Nancy Larrick (White)
*Larrick, Nancy. “The All-White World of Children’s Books.” Saturday Review 48 (September 11, 1965): 63–65, 84–85.Pura Belpré (Puerto Rican/Latina)
*Reese, Debbie. “Indigenizing Children’s Literature.” Journal of Language and Literacy Education 4, no. 2 (2008): 59–72.
*Reese, Debbie. “Critical Indigenous Literacies: Selecting and Using Children’s Books about Indigenous Peoples.” Language Arts 95, no. 5 (May 2018): 269–80.
Excellent article! Thank you for your willingness to write it.
It's pretty disturbing to read that librarians are being trained to not simply provide patrons with what they ask for, to answer any questions they might have, or to point them to resources consistent with their requests that they might not know or have thought of. That was thankfully my experience when I worked with librarians and archivists extensively, which was several decades ago. They viewed their job as helping me to achieve my research goals, not telling me what I should research or think.
Sad. But welcome to librarianship! I still love it, even though I have left mainstream institutions.
It took ~5 years of studying "fake news" etc for my own progressive ideological assumptions to break down and then find that I no longer fit in. I likewise found that many do indeed have a certainty and incuriosity that comes with the belief of holding the moral high ground. This is true in both progressive and conservative circles, but it is secular progressivism that has taken hold of the major public institutions.
The core truths in the virtues of humility and empathy have been wrapped in lies.
It is, of course, ironic that the places that champion diversity and inclusion are so intolerant.
I took my MLIS over 30 years ago, and none of this political agenda was part of the curriculum; indeed, we were taught to guard against censorship in all its forms. How sad that this mentality is going to infect the profession for decades to come.
Your excellent account should be reproduced in every newspaper serving a town in which the community is struggling with the appropriateness of the books in children's collections. It's high time this mystique of the high-minded nobility of the ALA-blessed library degree be skewered. I've watched my beloved profession turn into a monstrosity over the last 50 years and it breaks my heart.
I wonder if the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal might be interested in publishing it? Or perhaps Real Clear Politics?
I attended a top MLIS school more than twenty years ago, and the faculty openly admitted to being liberal, but worked hard to consider alternative viewpoints.
This is sad and scary, and doesn't bode well for the future of librarianship if librarians consider themselves the guardian of information and truth rather than facilitators of people finding information and searching for truth.
I have been in LIS eduction coming on 30 years and have watched as these tides have shifted. As Michael notes below, a few decades ago it was much different in any given LIS Program (including at conferences). Courses were basically all face-to-face at that time, which I do think had an impact, but students could discuss all sort of issues (e.g. CIPA, patriot act, policy towards homeless, freedom of inquiry and equality of access....) with hearty debate and without fear of retribution from fellow grad students or faculty. Indeed, even the most leftist faculty would be the ones encouraging these discussions, such as during our journal club at the local coffee shop as well as in class. I know the kind of feelings the author of this piece noted are real for some students across LIS programs nationally, and they come from real situations and actions. It hits particularly hard given the foundations of librarianship are based on intellectual freedom and inquiry that drew many of us to the field. I can say not all programs are like that (my own program is more open to diversity of thought; at least I like to think that, and have seen evidence supporting it). Some states are trying to mandate this or that in university curricula with the intention of fostering greater diversity of inquiry, but the real change will need to come from one's own university and in one's program. We have an active First Amendment student group at ours, for instance, as well as faculty who work to help integrate the "HxA way" across campus. Hopefully these kinds of efforts will help fight back against the compulsion some feel to shut down ideas simply because they disagree with them.
Good for you. Keep asking questions.