Public Libraries and Social Justice

Citation

Isfandyari‐Moghaddam, A. (2012), "Public Libraries and Social Justice", Library Management, Vol. 33 No. 1/2, pp. 121-123. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435121211203860

Well‐known sayings “Public libraries for all” and “Public libraries are open to all” have been reinforcing in the third millennium within which one of the main global challenges is to build a society where everyone can access and share information, enabling individuals and communities to achieve their full potential in promoting their development and improving their quality of life (Aqili and Isfandyari‐Moghaddam, 2008). In fact, Ranganathan's fifth law “the library is a growing organism” has come true, meaning that all libraries including public libraries and their librarians are expected to be leaders like conductors of symphony orchestras to carry all the members working together to a single goal (Yamazaki, 2007). Accordingly, emphasizing that if public libraries are to develop and grow in the future and become relevant to the majority of their local communities, then they need to abandon outmoded concepts of excellence and fully grasp the equity agenda (p. 1), and that little had been written about public libraries and social exclusion. There were a number of articles but no monographs, the book Public Libraries and Social Justice has been written and published. It, which has an overview on British public libraries, reminds us that sound change is the path to growth and survival. In this line, the authors (p. 16) declare that it is time for cleverness and superiority to be replaced by fairness and justice. The age of excellence should end and a new era of equity should begin. According to their standpoint (p. 5), library workers must identify, prioritize and meet community needs. These workers will need to be able to overturn misconceptions about socially excluded communities, and they will have to mainstream these communities within library strategies and policies. These workers will have to make sure that social exclusion is firmly on the agenda of the library service and the local authority. They will need to pressure their managers and Elected Members for change, and, at the same time, win the hearts and minds of front‐line staff and local communities. They will need to have strong influencing skills and be passionate and committed advocates for socially excluded people. This will require tenacity, resilience and courage. It has seven chapters. Chapter one “Introduction” outlines the background and in fact, states the problem regarding social exclusion and the role public libraries can play to alleviate it in line of promoting social justice. It is also a miniature of the book, discussing all chapters in brief. As reflected in its name, chapter two “An historical overview” has a brief retrospective view on the origin and appearance of social exclusion from Victorian times to the second half of twentieth century. “How have public libraries reacted?” is a question that the chapter tries to respond it through providing reader with three subsections “the early period, 1850‐1950”, “public libraries 1950‐1970”, and “from 1970 onwards”. Some glowing sparks concerning the heart‐warming movement from the first challenges faced by public libraries to the development of community librarianship are also highlighted. Chapter three “What is social exclusion?” discusses briefly some terms related to social exclusion such as social inclusion, community cohesion, and social justice. Having a glance at some plans and actions on social inclusion, social exclusion, and social cohesion (community empowerment and community engagement), some UK‐wide activities on the subject of social exclusion are taken into consideration with a reference to the policy landscape. Chapter four “Strategic context”, focusing particularly on some of key recently published documents, aims at examining some of the major policy drivers which have encouraged organizations, including public libraries, to tackle social exclusion and how these connect with wider government policies and strategies. In fact, forth chapter vigilantly encourages public libraries to engage strategically and practically with all types of their users even non‐users. Chapter five “Tackling social exclusion” which can be indeed treated as an interface between the previous chapters dealing with social exclusion and related issues more theoretically as well as historically and two final chapters offering practical solutions, looks critically at what public libraries have been doing since 1997 and scrutinizes this experience. In a word, the authors in chapters 2 to 4 discussed social exclusion and its entrance into public libraries in its pre‐1997 context, while in chapter 5 they report generally the build‐up occurred after 1997 in UK public libraries about tackling social exclusion. To meet readers' demands and provide them with valuable experiences in association with social exclusion in the context of public libraries, several plans, projects, reports, initiatives, and documents are debated. For instance, Annual Library Plans (1998), Libraries for All (1999), Public Libraries, Ethnic Diversity and Citizenship (1998), Open to All? (2000), The Quality Leaders Project (2001), and The Network (1999) are among notable attempts discussed here. In spite of Pateman and Vincent's saying (p. 99) that within the scope of this book, it is possible only to give a flavour of this exciting period, chapter five seems to be admirable as well as readable because it acts as an annotated bibliography which refers interested readers to needed relevant works. The chapter ends with a succinct analysis of “what progress has been made since 1997?” and “what are the major issues that have not been tackled?”. Chapter six “Developing a needs‐based library service” emphasizes the implementation of a service which focuses on community needs. Four essential elements of such a service – strategy, structure, systems, and culture – are indicated. As a matter of fact, the golden mean of services offered in today public libraries may be best observed through paying much attention to needs of users – both active users and passive as well as non users. To realize an acceptable level of success on the road of tackling social exclusion, the authors put forward an inclusive paradigm deserving of effort and investment so that potential users not engaged in the circle of services can be absorbed. Finally, chapter seven “Where next?” aims at charting a roadmap for how public library services could be developed on the basis of social justice by which public libraries can play an important role in building bridges within and between new communities and more established communities. In this line, three interwoven themes – social justice, leadership, and needs‐based library services – are discussed. Some outstanding managerial notes are included in this closing chapter. One of strong points of the book is its bibliography, which in turn is an indicative of depth and richness. Totally, content of the book implicitly indicates that having a look at human's history, it is self‐evident that change is constant and inevitable. This is not an exception to libraries especially public libraries because they deal with more various audiences and are a mirror and function of the society and its circumstances, underlying that gone are the days of monotonous approach existing in public libraries' sphere. In my opinion, the book has considered an important matter, which is of necessity particularly in the age of change, challenge, competition and economic pressures affecting public library context. From the field of Library and Information Science' perspective, the title is also relevant to the theme of 78th IFLA Conference “Libraries Now: Inspiring, Surprising, Empowering” (www.ifla.org/ifla78). I enjoyed from reading such a thought‐provoking book, which regardless of its different valuable aspects, can also contribute to the management and governance of public libraries. It is recommended for librarians, students, professors, managers, and even those who are interested in sociological and historical studies.