Our Enduring Values Revisited: Librarianship in an Ever-Changing World

by Michael Gorman

Overview

In the almost 15 years since Our Enduring Values was published, there has been a sea change in the way much of the world thinks about and uses libraries. Young librarians and seasoned LIS professionals alike are experiencing increasing pressure to adjust to new economic, societal, and technological demands amidst the often-dire rhetoric currently surrounding the future of our institutions. In this stirring manifesto, public intellectual, librarian, and philosopher Gorman addresses head on the “existential panic” among library professionals caused by the radical shift in how libraries are viewed. He reconnects readers with the core values that continue to inspire generations of library professionals and scholars—while making the case that these values are doubly crucial to hold on to in the brave new shifting world of librarianship. Destined to become another classic of library literature, this book explores such contemporary issues as The growing emphasis of the library as a cultural institution, placing libraries within their cultural context as gathering places for learning, access to information, and community The impact of technological innovations on core values such as access and stewardship Library places and spaces of the future How the mass digitization of books, archives, and other materials affects the purpose and function of libraries Intellectual freedom and privacy in the era of the PATRIOT Act, Wikileaks, and Edward Snowden The role of libraries as both champions and facilitators of social justiceInspirational yet clear-sighted, Gorman emphatically reaffirms the importance of libraries and librarians while proposing a path for future survival and growth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780838913062
Publisher:	American Library Association
Publication date:	03/16/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	655 KB

About the Author

Michael Gorman was Dean of Library Services at the Henry Madden Library, California State University, Fresno from 1988-2007. From 1977 to 1988 he worked at the Library of the University of Illinois, Urbana as, successively, Director of Technical Services, Director of General Services, and Acting University Librarian. From 1966 to 1977 he was, successively, Head of Cataloging at the British National Bibliography, a member of the British Library Planning Secretariat, and Head of the Office of Bibliographic Standards in the British Library. He is the first editor of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, Second Edition (1978) and of the revision of that work (1988), and he is the author of The Concise AACR2. Future Libraries: Dreams, Madness, and Reality (co-written with Walt Crawford) was honored with the 1997 Blackwell’s Scholarship Award. Our Enduring Values, published by ALA in 2000, was the winner of ALA’s 2001 Highsmith Award for the best book on librarianship. He is also the author of Our Own Selves: More Meditations for Librarians (2005) as well as hundreds of articles in professional and scholarly journals. He has given numerous presentations at international, national, and state conferences. Michael has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Margaret Mann Citation in 1979, the 1992 Melvil Dewey Medal, Blackwell’s Scholarship Award in 1997, the California Library Association/Access, Collections, and Technical Services Section Award of Achievement in 1999, and the Ken Haycock Award in 2010. He was a member of the American Library Association’s Council (1991-1995 and 2002-2006), the ALA Executive Board through 2007, and was president of ALA in 2005-2006. He was made a fellow of the [British] Library Association in 1979 and an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) in 2005. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of the Thames Valley in 2007.