Progressive Library Organizations This page intentionally left blank Progressive Library Organizations A Worldwide History Alfred Kagan McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA Kagan, Alfred. Progressive library organizations : a worldwide history / Alfred Kagan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ♾ ISBN 978-0-7864-6400-5 (softcover : acid free paper) ISBN 978-1-4766-1729-9 (ebook) 1. Libraries—Societies, etc. 2. Libraries—Societies, etc.— History. 3. Libraries and society. 4. Library science—Political aspects. 5. Library science—Social aspects. 6. Library science—Moral and ethical aspects. 7. Librarians—Political activity. 8. Librarians—Professional ethics. I. Title. Z673.A1K34 2015 020.6'22—dc23 2015003859 BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE © 2015 Alfred Kagan. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover image © iStock/Thinkstock Printed in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com Table of Contents Preface 1 1. South Africa: Library and Information Workers Organisation (LIWO) 7 Appendix 1: Acronyms for LIWO Chapter 43; Appendix 2: LIWOLETArticle Analysis 43; Appendix 3: LIWO Programs and Workshops 44; Notes 45; Bibliography 51 2. Sweden: Bibliotek i Samhälle (BiS) (Libraries in Society) 53 Appendix 1: Acronyms for BiS Chapter 76; Appendix 2: BiS Book Fair Seminars 77; Appendix 3: Analysis of BiS Journal Articles by Subject 77; Appendix 4: Countries Analysis of BiS Journal Articles 78; Notes 79; Bibliography 83 3. Germany: Arbeitskreis kritischer BibliothekarInnen (Akribie) (Working Group of Critical Librarians) 86 Appendix 1: Akribie Programs and Library Visits 99; Appendix 2: Akribie Open Letters and Surveys 102; Appendix 3: Analysis of LaurentiusJournal Articles, 1988– 2000 103; Appendix 4: German Library Organizations 104; Notes 104; Bibliography 106 4. Austria: Arbeitskreis kritischer Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare im Renner-Institut (KRIBIBI) (Working Group of Critical Librarians in the Renner Institute) 109 Appendix: Acronyms for KRIBIBI Chapter 122; Notes 122; Bibliography 123 5. United Kingdom: Information for Social Change (ISC) 126 Appendix 1: Acronyms for ISC Chapter 145; Appendix 2: ISC Journal Article Analysis 145; Appendix 3: Analysis of ISC Occasional Papers 147; Notes 148; Bibliography 151 6. United States: Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association (SRRT) 153 Appendix 1: American Library Association Acronyms 210; Appendix 2: SRRT Task Forces 211; Appendix 3: SRRT v vi Table of Contents Programs, Awards, Actions and Demonstrations 212; Appendix 4: SRRT Affiliates 218; Notes 219; Bibliography 233 7. United States: The Progressive Librarians Guild (PLG) 241 Appendix 1: PLG Initiated and Endorsed Statements, Resolutions, Petitions and Events 263; Appendix 2: Progressive LibrarianJournal Analysis 265; Appendix 3: PLG Chapters 267; Notes 275; Bibliography 280 Appendix: Interviewees 283 Questionnaires 285 Index 287 Preface It is an awfully hard to time to be a librarian, or for that matter, any professional in the public sector. Public, school, and academic libraries are suffering from budget cutbacks, hir- ing freezes, pay cuts, and drastic reorganizations, and morale is suffering. This is on top of what we might call the trend of technocratization over the last years. (If it is new technology, it must be good.) Of course, what I mean is that library administrators often see technology as the end product, rather than the means to work well done. Both of these trends tend to mitigate against hard- won social gains and even basic library ethos. We often find ourselves in the position of just trying to hold on to what we have, rather than trying to find new and better ways to enhance the quality of life, educational success, and social justice for our com- munities and constituencies. We look to our library associations for leadership, but they are subject to the same societal trends. The alternative library organizations/groups addressed in this book have played important critical roles in influencing local and national struggles within the library profession and in the political process in the governance of societies. This work intends to describe these historical roles and comment on their influence and effec- tiveness. Each organization/group is treated separately in the context of its own national envi- ronment because the range of structures and national library situations is extraordinary. The English word “organization” does not quite fit for the Austrian and German “working groups.” Following from these different types of organizational or group structures, and based on various self- conceptions, visions, and goals, we would expect to find very different kinds of programs, projects, and ways of influencing the national library professions in each country. This is indeed the case, and this will be explicated in the various chapters. This lack of parallel structure confounds comparative analysis. Therefore, I have abandoned my orig- inal plan to write a concluding chapter. This work investigates the history and impact of the following national progressive library organizations and groups: the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association—SRRT(U.S.), the Progressive Librarians Guild—PLG (mostly U.S.), Information for Social Change—ISC (originally United Kingdom), Arbeitskreis kritischer BibliothekarInnen—Akribie (Germany), Arbeitskreis kritischer Bibliothekarinnen und Bib- liothekare im Renner-I nstitut—KRIBIBI (Austria), Bibliotek i Samhälle—BiS (Sweden), and Library and Information Workers Organisation—LIWO (South Africa). These seven organizations and groups are/were clearly the most prominent national groups of their kind. 1 2 Preface (LIWOdisbanded in 2000.) It seems useful to explicate the various structures here (in alpha- betical order): Arbeitskreis kritischer BibliothekarInnen (Akribie) was an informal German network that met twice per year to debate issues, organize programs at the national library conference, and influence the library profession. For many years, the journal Laurentiuswas published in collaboration with Akribie. The group was disbanded in 2012, but a small group decided to develop a website to carry on the work. Arbeitskreis kritischer Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare im Renner- Institut (KRIBIBI) is an Austrian informal network or “workshop,” which holds two seminars or “weekend colleges” per year. There is a collective leadership and a Coordinator. The organ- ization is supported by the Renner Institute, the think- tank of the Social Democratic Party’s (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs or SPÖ). However participants are not necessarily affiliated with the SPÖ. This relationship provides a direct connection to the Austrian polit- ical process. Bibliotek i Samhälle (BiS) is a socialist Swedish membership network with no board or officers except a Treasurer. BiS holds seminars on different topics at the annual Gothenburg Book Fairs. Over the years there have been at least ten local chapters throughout the country, but these are no longer functioning. The local chapters used to take turns producing the journal, also titled, Bibliotek i Samhälle. Information for Social Change (ISC) is a London- based but now international collec- tive organized around the publication of the journal also titled, Information for Social Change. It has evolved from an English activist membership organization to an international grouping based around its Editorial Board and readership. The Library and Information Workers Organisation (LIWO) was a fiercely democratic anti- apartheid nonracial South African membership organization that came to prominence during the last years of apartheid and was active through the transition to majority rule and slightly thereafter. It was established as an alternative to, and in opposition to the established white national library organization, and tried to have a respectful relationship with the very weak African library association during that timeframe. There were four local autonomous branches, which briefly came together into a national organization. Each local branch had its own officers and membership, and national officers were elected at national conferences. Its newsletter was titledLIWOLET. The Progressive Librarians Guild (PLG) is a U.S.–based radical membership organi- zation that has a fair number of international members. It is an independent organization but with affiliate status to SRRT. It consciously has one leg inside ALA and one leg outside, therefore simultaneously providing a direct way to influence ALA while maintaining free- dom of action. It is governed by a self- selected, or elected Coordinating Committee (depend- ing on how many members are interested in the work). The Coordinating Committee includes all members of the Editorial Board of the organization’s journal, the Progressive Librarian. There is no fixed number of Coordinating Committee members, but the at- large members always outnumber the Editorial Board members by one. The Coordinating Com- mittee elects its Facilitator/Chair. There are currently about eleven student chapters at schools of library and information science. The Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association (SRRT) Preface 3 is a membership organization within the American Library Association. Therefore all SRRT members must be ALA members. The SRRTmembership elects the at-l arge members of the governing body, the SRRTAction Council, and the Action Council elects its officers. Mem- bers establish Task Forces to work on specific issue areas, and each task force has a represen- tative on the Action Council. There were six active task forces in 2012. Since ALA has state chapters, SRRT also has a few state chapters and these are also represented on the Action Council. The SRRTmembership elects its representative to ALA’s governing body, the ALA Council, and the SRRTCouncilor is also a member of the Action Council. Finally the Pro- gressive Librarians Guild has a representative on the Action Council. The SRRTNewsletter reports on activities and publishes book reviews. From the above descriptions, note that the following types of organizations: • Independent editorial collective—ISC • Independent non-h ierarchical network—Akribie • Non- hierarchical network affiliated with a political party think tank—KRIBIBI • Independent decentralized nonracial organization—LIWO • Independent socialist network—BiS • Independent but affiliated radical organization with student chapters—PLG • Round table affiliated with a national organization with state chapters—SRRT Furthermore, lack of shared experiences has confounded international networking. The Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association applied for and received an ALA Presidential Grant to bring organizational representatives to the 1998 ALA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The Austrians followed up with a second inter- national meeting in Vienna in 2000. However, the Vienna meeting proved quite a disap- pointment for all concerned. It has recently become clear to me that these meetings were wildly overambitious because the participants were unaware of their vastly different orga- nizational cultures, structural differences, different self- visions, and modes of practice. Inter- national networking is not a simple matter. For the full story, see the SRRT chapter. Interestingly, some of the interviewees thought that a third meeting might be worthwhile, but not an open- ending meeting like the first two. There were ten specific themes suggested. Some of the most interesting are “Libraries and the Crisis of Capitalism,” “Globalization and Its Effects on Library Work,” “The Struggle for Information, or What Is the Role of the Library in Dissemination and the Manipulation of Information?” and “Libraries and the Quality of Life.” Several emphasized that it would have to be prepared very well in advance, and one stated that we should have low expectations. Perhaps the publication of this book will reinvigorate a discussion of what might be gained by a third meeting or conference? In addition to the obvious benefit of documenting the history and impact of these organizations, I hope this project will help in re- energizing the organizations. Two other Scandinavian groups should be noted. The Unge Bibliotekarer (also cited as Yngre Bibliotekar) or Young Librarians of Denmark were organized within the national library association and published an anti- establishment journal from 1965 to 1970 titled Biblioteksdebat [Library debate]. Peak subscription was 2000 in 1969. But the group was a victim of its own success. In 1968, they won a ballot initiative and separated to form their own labor union without ties to the national library association. In addition, the younger librarians won a majority of the library association’s board and established a new periodical, Bibliotek 70.1