Freedom Libraries: The Untold Story of Libraries for African-Americans in the South. As the Civil Rights Movement exploded across the United States, the media of the time was able to show the rest of the world images of horrific racial violence. And while some of the bravest people of the 20th century risked their lives for the right to simply order a cheeseburger, ride a bus, or use a clean water fountain, there was another virtually unheard of struggle—this one for the right to read. Although illegal, racial segregation was strictly enforced in a number of American states, and public libraries were not immune. Numerous libraries were desegregated on paper only: there would be no cards given to African-Americans, no books for them read, and no furniture for them to use. It was these exact conditions that helped create Freedom Libraries. Over eighty of these parallel libraries appeared in the Deep South, staffed by civil rights voter registration workers. While the grassroots nature of the libraries meant they varied in size and quality, all of them created the first encounter many African-Americans had with a library. Terror, bombings, and eventually murder would be visited on the Freedom Libraries—with people giving up their lives so others could read a library book. This book delves into how these libraries were the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, and the remarkable courage of the people who used them. They would forever change libraries and librarianship, even as they helped the greater movement change the society these libraries belonged to. Photographs of the libraries bring this little-known part of American history to life.
Libraries are experiencing a technological revolution that goes well beyond anything that has existed since the invention of printing. Not surprisingly, the digital library, with all that it portends for the future of the book and the periodical, but also with all that it implies for the kinds of information that will be collected and disseminated, will necessarily preoccupy those responsible for libraries in the new century. Everything from copyright, access, and cost to the nature of the reading public itself is now up for re-examination.'Books, Bricks, and Bytes' brings together an extraordinary array of authors at the cutting edge of these concerns, not only within the United States, but experts drawn from Germany, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and India. James H. Billington discusses the Library of Congress in the information age; Ann S. Okerson outlines two models for securing scholarly information; Donald S. Lamm discusses the shaky partnership of publishers and librarians hi this new environment; Klaus-Dieter Lehmann provides a framework for maintaining the intellectual heritage of the past in a digitized future. Each contributor shows hi concrete detail and vivid illustration that the library as a world of holdings is increasingly valued as an incomparable place to access information. In his preface to the book, Stephen Graubard reminds us that whether or not one believes in the reality of the information revolution that is said to be overtaking the world, it is obvious that the libraries being built today do not resemble those marble sanctuaries constructed hi the Victorian age or in the early twentieth entury. This is a work that shows how libraries have been transformed from "refuges" from the external world, to places that reflect the social and intellectual values of specific societies. The idea that the library is a public trust and public resource is at the center of this unusually fine collection at the cutting edge of professional and public life.
Public Libraries in the 21st Century presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of recent policy initiatives directly targeted at public libraries along with broader developments in the public sector environment within which they operate. Key features include: • An exploration of the context within which public libraries are operating and analysis of their role in local and national life; • Examples of best practice in service delivery; • Evaluation of the challenges and opportunities confronting public library managers; • Wide ranging coverage, including information from published and unpublished sources, supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders in the public library sector. The book provides a unique and thorough guide to the contemporary discourses surrounding issues of identity, social purpose, value and strategy facing the public library service.
South Africa will be dealing with the legacy of apartheid for generations. Dr. Jacqueline Kalley has had the foresight and vision to document the experiences of black library users during South Africa's years of apartheid, focusing her studies on the second half of the twentieth century, when apartheid reached its zenith. Apartheid in South African Libraries is an in-depth study of the effect of apartheid on public, provincial, and community library services in South Africa. With a high degree of accuracy and objectivity, Dr. Kalley documents the past record and experiences of black libraries. She masterfully integrates the numerous aspects of this complicated subject including historical, legal, and resource concerns. A historical introduction helps provide background and context for the work, and an index, bibliography, and photographs round out the book.
First Published in 1994. This book focuses on the historical development of the library as an institution. Its contents assume no single theoretical foundation or philosophical perspective but instead reflect the richly diverse opinions of its many contributors. This text is intended to serve as a reference tool for undergraduate and graduate students interested in library history, for library school educators whose teaching requires knowledge of the historical development of library institutions, services, and user groups, and for practicing library professionals.
Based on his extensive experience in international librarianship, Peter Johan Lor, South Africa's first National Librarian and a former Secretary General of the IFLA, has written the first comprehensive and systematic overview of international and comparative librarianship. His book provides a conceptual framework and methodological guidelines for the field and covers the full range of international relations among libraries and information services, with particular attention to the international political economy of information, the international diffusion of innovations and policy in library and information services, LIS development and international aid. It concludes with a discussion of the practical relevance and future of international and comparative studies in LIS. See a short interview with Peter Lor on his work https://www.ifla.org/node/92590
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the information profession. The series IFLA Publications deals with many of the means through which libraries, information centres, and information professionals worldwide can formulate their goals, exert their influence as a group, protect their interests, and find solutions to global problems.