Table Of ContentProgressive Library Organizations
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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
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© 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
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without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Printed in the United States of America
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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
