INTRODUCTION: CRITICAL
LIBRARIANSHIP
David H. Ketchum
While critical theory has roots in the social sciences and humanities, it moves
beyond attempts to merely understand and explain society, challenging individ-
uals and institutions to critique and perhaps change the social constructs in which
we live, particularly those that contribute to social injustice. More specifically,
critical theory acknowledges that racism, patriarchy, capitalism, and similar
systems of power and oppression have become nearly inextricable from many
aspects of Western culture, largely due to centuries of dominance by white,
heterosexual, Christian males. This centralization of power led to the marginal-
ization of “others,” or those who do not belong to the dominant factions within
society. Despite this, proponents of critical theory insist that ideology is the main
impediment to human liberation, and liberation is achievable by interrogating
and dismantling tyrannical ideologies and their effects on society.
Critical theory is not new. Critical Theory as a school of thought emerged in
Germany in the 1930s, and has since been applied widely and in varying contexts.
As aspects of Critical Theory were more broadly adopted and applied, “critical
theory” became colloquialized and critical practices embedded in many pro-
fessions and activities. Examples of this include critical pedagogy, critical man-
agement, critical anthropology, and critical librarianship. The primary
commonalities within these movements are a conscious effort and interest in
looking reflectively at the values, practices, and structures within pedagogy,
management, librarianship, etc., and changing those things that contribute to
social, economic, and other injustices.
Sanford Berman (born October 6, 1933) is known extensively in the library
cataloging community as an activist and proponent of alternative library prac-
tices. He is perhaps most well known for his criticism of bias in Library of
Congress (LOC) subject headings. In 2007, Berman submitted a formal
recommendation to the LOC Cataloging Policy and Support Office to have
“critical librarianship” added as a LOC subject heading. Within this proposal,
Critical Librarianship
Advances in Library Administration and Organization, Volume 41, 1–3
Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
ISSN: 0732-0671/doi:10.1108/S0732-067120200000041001
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2 DAVID H. KETCHUM
Berman (2007) recommends the subject heading be applied to works of library-
related literature where “considerations for the human condition and for human
rights take precedence over other professional concerns.” This subject heading
was yet to be added at the time of this publication. Despite this ongoing omission,
I agree with Garcia (2015) in his assertion that this act was an overt attempt by a
library professional to formally place “librarianship within a critical theorist
framework that is epistemological, self-reflective, and activist in nature.”
The term and concept of “critical librarianship” emerged fairly recently within
our long professional history, but librarians have most certainly been practicing
critical librarianship without a label or definition for a very long time. Indeed,
since their beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century, public libraries in the United
States have sought to provide citizens with free and equitable access to infor-
mation resources. Prior to this, print literature was generally inaccessible to
women, laypeople, and those lacking wealth, formal education, and other social
privileges of the time. The demand for access was so great that, by 1920, more
than 3,500 free public libraries were built throughout the United States (Brady &
Abbot, 2015). Free and open access to information provided individuals and
groups an opportunity to self-educate, obtain information resources that reflect
multiple perspectives, and become more autonomous and empowered citizens.
This expansion of access to information resources quickly became synonymous
with – and considered necessary for – America’s enduring democracy. In 1939,
the American Library Association (ALA) published the Library Bill of Rights;
still endorsed and maintained by ALA (most recently amended on January 19,
2019), this document outlines library patrons’ rights to intellectual freedom, and
the roles of librarians in supporting those rights. Examples include: resources
should be provided for the enlightenment of all people; material should present
all views on current and historic issues; libraries should challenge censorship and
collaborate with others who resist abridgement of free access to information; a
person’s right to use the library cannot be denied due to origin, age, background,
or point of view; and libraries should advocate for and protect user privacy
(ALA, 1939).
Arguably, critical theory was already being applied by librarians when this
concept was first being articulated by philosophers and theorists in the Western
world, as a natural outcome of our professional values and responsibilities. In
fact, “Critical librarianship has always been embedded in the library profession”
(Garcia, 2015). Despite this, libraries are not immune to ideologies that allow for
the marginalization and oppression of others. Indeed, “Libraries, like all insti-
tutions [in Western culture] are produced in and through systems marked by
racism, patriarchy, and capitalist modes of production” (Drabinski, 2019, p. 49).
Because of our professional values and the role of libraries within our society,
however, librarians are well equipped for questioning power structures within our
organizations and actively changing work practices that maintain preference and
privilege for those who have historically held consolidated power within our
society and places of work.
As Farkas (2017) notes, “critical librarianship has become a force that per-
vades every area of our work.” Again, this is unsurprising since the concepts of
Introduction 3
critical theory are inherent in our professional values. One aspect of librarianship
that has been underexplored in this movement, however, is library management.
This volume of Advances in Library Administration and Organization intends to
help fill this gap in professional literature by providing evidence of applied critical
theory in the administration and organization of libraries. Chapters demonstrate
how library leaders have applied feminist theory in the management of their
organizations, challenged antiquated hiring practices that perpetuate the subju-
gation of entire groups of people and provided practical solutions for changing
course, encouraged librarians to question power dynamics between themselves
and library users, and more. Each chapter demonstrates how critical theory has
been or can be pragmatically applied in libraries, offering readers an opportunity
to learn more about the critical librarianship movement while actively chal-
lenging and dismantling structures that perpetuate inequality within and outside
our places of work.
REFERENCES
American Library Association. (1939, June 19). Library Bill of Rights. Retrieved from http://
www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill. Accessed on January 15, 2020.
Berman, S. (2007, May 16). Letter to cataloging policy & support office, Library of Congress [PDF].
Retrieved from http://www.sanfordberman.org/headings/critical.pdf
Brady, H., & Abbot, F. (2015). A history of US Public Libraries [online exhibit], Digital Public Library
of America. Retrieved from https://dp.la/exhibitions/history-us-public-libraries. Accessed on
January15, 2020.
Drabinski, E. (2019). What is critical about critical librarianship? Art Libraries Journal, 44(2), 49–57.
Fakas, M. (2017). Never neutral. American Libraries, 48(1/2), 70.
Garcia, K. (2015, June 19). Keeping up with…critical librarianship. American Library Association.
Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/critlib