Progressive Librarianship: Perspectives from Kenya and Britain, 1979-2010

Abstract

Public spending is under threat and public libraries are suffering. At a time when libraries can play a critical role in supporting people facing difficult economic and social situations, the dominant conservative model of librarianship has nothing meaningful to say about the role and relevance of libraries. It offers more of the same, but no qualitative change so necessary today. . It continues to maintain the myth that there is no alternative to its own policies and practices. There is thus an urgent need for alternative ideas and practices to address people's needs. The progressive librarianship movement - in USA, Europe and other places - is taking up this challenge. P It has also been active in in Kenya and Britain but its work is not widely known. The Kenyan movement differed from the others in that it grew within the underground political movement in the 1980s - the December Twelve Movement. It was its Library Cell that set out its ideas on what a relevant library service should be and put many of its ideas into practice. This experience later reached Britain. Using original documents, this book records this hidden history. In the process, it examines key concepts such as the role of libraries and the relevance of service. Linking library work with the wider social and political concerns, the book explores issues such as politics of information and the role of activism and "neutrality" in library work. Deriving ideas from practice, it offers an alternative approach to librarianship, to the training of librarians and to organisational change to make libraries more relevant to people's lives. The book will be of interest to library staff and professionals, students and teachers of librarianship as well as to political activists and historians

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