Moral Crisis, Pragmatism, and the Lessons of the Library War Effort

Abstract

In 1917, the leadership of the American Library Association (ALA) developed the Library War Service program. This program was designed to collect funds and distribute books to American soldiers who were in training or deployed for World War I. The war effort provided an opportunity to regain status for the profession that had been lost as a result of policy decisions during the progressive era in librarianship. This search for external validation resulted in a return to culturally authoritarian practices such as the censorship of German language material, denial of access to pacifist organizations, and the institution of mandatory loyalty oaths among library employees. This paper presents an examination of how resolving the moral crisis in American librarianship that occurred as part of the Library War Service eventually led to the establishment of some of the major ethical codes used by the ALA. It makes the case that this resolution promoted closer integration of the profession’s identity and its behaviour. It argues as well that this integration has led members of the ALA to develop expertise in defending the public’s intellectual freedoms, which is a significant contribution to society. Attention is given to the pragmatic nature of historical and contemporary progressive policy decisions and to the risks to the status of public libraries posed by moral crises that result from seeking external validation for the worth of the library profession.

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