INLS843 Seminar in Public Libraries

12 February 2007 - The Community Ecology Context

Conversation starter

20050523.The Value of Libraries.Impact, Normative Data, & Influencing Funders.Stephan Abram.Sirsi OneSource

Discussion themes

Where does the public library sit in the ecology of the community?
Who are the served?
Who are the unserved?
Which communities should be catered to:
- those who "need" the public library, or
- those who use it?

Other readings

The ugly side of librarianship

K. Musmann, Untold stories: civil rights, libraries and black librarianship. Edited by John Mark Tucker. Urbana-Champaign, Illinois: Illinois University at Urbana Champaign, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 1998, p.78-92. refs.
Contribution to a collection of essays attempting to tell the story of how books and libraries became essential to civil rights efforts in the USA. Provides a preliminary sketch of the services provided by libraries to African Americans during a period of strict segregation (1900-1950). Notes that the American Library Association made few attempts to enforce equal treatment for its African American members nor did the association make any collective effort to assist in improving library services to such a large group of unserved individuals. (Quotes from original text)

Clienteles: service to Afro-Americans

A. P. Marshall, A century of service: librarianship in the United States and Canada edited by S.L. Jackson, E.B. Herling, E.J. Josey. Chicago, American Library Association, 1976, 62-78 refs.
Although bonds were supposedly lifted from the black people after the Civil War, they knew that their distinguishing characteristics would relegate them to a Second-class citizenship for some time and they therefore pinned their hopes on the great panacea, education. The First foothold for libraries was in the schools; public libraries in the south were often barred to black users. During the early Twentieth century the philosophy began to change as more books became available and literacy increased. Describes the challenge of Afro-Americans to the exclusion tactics of public libraries and also to moves by libraries to formal training programs for black staff.
However, the period 1925-1950 was characterized by accelerating demands for an equal share in higher education and libraries and this growing militancy forced changes which would result in unprecedented progress during the next 25 years. In 1963 an important study was undertaken for the American Library Association to examine the extent of limited access to libraries and the segregation problem in the south. It has emerged as a unique contribution to the desegregation of public libraries and laid the foundation for the development of library services for the underserved.

Clienteles: service to ethnic minorities other than Afro-Americans and American Indians

Haynes McMullen, A century of service: librarianship in the United States and Canada, edited by S.L. Jackson, E.B. Herling, E.J. Josey. Chicago, American Library Association, 1976, 42-61. refs
Mainly concerned with trends and events which have occurred in the USA; Canadian activities are briefly dealt with. Divides the period from 1876 in 4 phases: before 1904 when services to immigrants were very limited; 1904-1918 when US librarians became much more aware of the problems of immigrants and became more eager to serve them; 1919-1935 when librarians' efforts became better organized and then began to decline; from 1935 when service to 3 groups was consolidated-to European refugees, a small number of Orientals and a large number of Spanish-speaking people. In Canada this service has centered round the English and French minorities in various areas. Almost without exception libraries have agreed with the liberal-minded who wanted to make the immigrants' transition into a new society as painless as possible. They have also recognized another need, that of helping immigrants retain their ancestral culture.