Progressive
Librarian
Remember that Lays potato chip
commercial with the tag line “You can’t eat just one”? That’s kind of how I’ve felt as I’ve been
exploring one of the titles I’ve chosen for this blog assignment on LIS
professional journals – as I delve deeper and deeper into the offerings in Progressive Librarian, I want to eat it
all up!
Progressive
Librarian focuses on critical
consideration of library practices within the context of progressive,
democratic, and socially responsible ethics and values. It is a refereed publication of the
Progressive Librarian’s Guild (PLG); anyone may submit articles for
publication, but they must be reviewed and selected by the editorial board. The PLG was formed in 1990 by librarians who
were concerned with what they saw as a growing trend toward a library
“neutrality” that in effect serves to uphold the status quo – by remaining in
silent alliance with business interests, within the information industry – to
the detriment of a truly enlightened citizenry that has real, democratic means
for intellectual freedom and personal and communal development. The PLG Statement of Purpose asserts: “A
progressive librarianship demands the recognition of the idea that libraries
for the people has been one of the principal anchors of an extended free public
sphere which makes an independent democratic civil society possible, something
which must be defended and extended. This is partisanship, not neutrality”
(Progressive Librarians Guild, 1997-2013).
Within that larger framework, the
essays in this journal are broad and deep, addressing what it means to be defenders
of democracy in different types of libraries; within different aspects of the
LIS profession and the LIS academic discipline; and within various local,
national and global contexts.
That Progressive Librarian is a peer reviewed journal matters
tremendously, in that the editorial board – while standing firm in the PLG’s
mission toward a free, public intellectual sphere – seeks to publish articles
and reviews that maintain a certain professional standard and that represent
the Guild’s progressive professional concerns.
Also in keeping with its mission, Progressive Librarian publishes under
a Creative Commons license, which allows for freedom of distribution, given proper
attribution, and with a key stipulation that materials are not used for
commercial purposes. The journal editors
appear to shy away from editorial commentary, in order to launch right into
each issue’s contents, which includes articles, book reviews, occasional PLG
reports and essays, and, annually, the LIS student essay that has been chosen
for the Braverman Award – in honor of Miriam Ruth Gutman Braverman, founder of
the ALA’s Social Responsibilities Round Table.
Some of the topics I’ve been exited to
explore, in my brief sweep through Progressive
Librarian issues from 2009 through the present, include: academic
librarianship that fosters a “counter-hegemony,” in light of an academic
culture that may perpetuate dominant ideologies and support the status quo; how
library design can support individuals and communities toward greater democracy
and even activism; archiving that is for the people, rather than exclusivist –
preserving the record of those who are under-represented, and creating easy
access to such information for all who would seek it; the role of libraries in acknowledging
and addressing white privilege in the U.S; the importance of library services
for seniors; and much more.
One of the recent Braverman Essays offers
a great example of what lies at the heart of Progressive Librarian. Sarah
Clark (2009) warns that the trend towards marketing in public libraries, which
is driven by economic concerns, actually undermines the library’s purpose; in
its place, she encourages us to focus instead on advocacy and stewardship: “By
reaffirming the library’s unique contributions to society and by stressing its
importance in democratic and education terms rather than economic ones, the
library not only maintains its historical roots but also stands a stronger
chance of surviving as a public institution” (p. 99). It is this kind of critical attention to
social responsibility in librarianship that makes Progressive Librarian one of the journals which I will continue to
turn to, as I seek to enter this profession with my feet firmly planted in the
library’s public service roots.
School
Library Research
The second journal I’ve explored for
this blog entry is School Library
Research. I’ve chosen the latter because
it is outside my intended area of professional residence, but it represents a
library focus that is absolutely essential to our profession, our communities
and our society as a whole.
School
Library Research is the scholarly
research publication of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL);
this title marks a recent change from School
Library Media Research. The AASL
traces its origins to 1914, as an ALA section dedicated to the work and support
of school librarians, and it became an official division of the ALA in 1951
(Poole, 1976). The AASL’s mission is “to
advocate excellence, facilitate change, and develop leaders in the school
library field” (American Association of School Librarians, 2003). Like Progressive
Librarian, this journal is peer-reviewed, which helps to ensure the quality
of the scholarship within; authors/researchers are invited to submit original,
innovative research regarding all aspects of school librarianship. School Library Research is also an
open-access online publication, but unlike Progressive
Librarian’s Creative Commons license, permission is required through the
ALA’s Rights and Permissions Office for reproduction of this material. While the journal itself, also like Progressive Librarian, appears to stray
away from editor’s comments, choosing instead to highlight scholarship, the
AASL has published a related Editor’s
Choice – featuring articles selected from several years’ worth of School
Library Research volumes, which delve deeper into themes from the AASL’s Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School
Library Programs.
In my brief wanderings through several
years of School Library Research, I
found myself drawn to a great variety of studies, including: the portrayal of
disability in graphic novels; cultural competence training in LIS graduate
programs; access to LGBT-focused literature for teens, in school libraries;
school library service to students with special needs; school librarians’
collaboration with teachers; the role of libraries in the integration of
technology in schools; elementary school children’s intrinsic motivation for
seeking information; and more. While School Library Research covers a great
variety of topics, and may not have the same explicitly progressive edge as the
journal outlined above, the AASL mission focus of advocating excellence and
facilitating change indeed seems to shine through quite brightly. A poignant example is a 2009 article on the
importance of multicultural literature – i.e., literature that mirrors the life
experience of young people of color – during the transitional reading stage
(i.e., from easy readers to chapter books).
Hughes-Hassell and her colleagues find significant disparities in the
transitional literature that is available for young people, decrying the white
privilege inherent in this disparity, and calling on school librarians “to
promote equity in literacy instruction for children of color” (2009). While school librarianship may not be the
place where I will ultimately land professionally, it is good to know that
scholarship such as this calls school librarians – and all librarians – to the heart of our shared vocation, on behalf of
the people we serve.
Inspiration
for Leadership
While Progressive Librarian and School
Library Research are but two of the LIS journals available within the LIS
field, for this blogger they will be important companions on this professional
journey. The LIS field is committed to
democracy, intellectual freedom, service, social responsibility and the public
good (to name a few of our core
values). It is inspiring to see how
the core values of librarianship are clearly represented in a diversity of
ways, in the scholarship that is highlighted in these two publications – and I
trust that the same is true for the great variety of LIS publications that remain
out there for neophytes like me to explore.
I am glad to have encountered, through these journals, colleagues across
the nation (and globe!) who will serve as mentors as I seek to enter the LIS
profession on behalf of democracy, intellectual freedom, service, social
responsibility and the public good!
References
American Association of School Librarians
(2003). AASL Governing Documents. Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/aasl/about/governing-docs.
Clark, S. (2009).
“Marketing the Library? Why
Librarians Should Focus on Stewardship and Advocacy. Progressive
Librarian, Issue 33, pp. 93-100.
Hughes-Hassell, S., H. Barkley, and E. Koehler
(2009). Promoting
Equity in Children's Literacy Instruction: Using a Critical Race Theory
Framework to Examine Transitional Books. School Library Media Research, Vol. 12. Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume12/hughes_hassell
Pond, P. (1976).
AASL History: 1914-1951. Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/aasl/about/history-1914.
Progressive Librarians Guild (1997-2013). Statement
of Purpose. Retrieved from: http://www.progressivelibrariansguild.org/content/purpose.shtml.
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