A few months ago, someone wrote an opinion article for LJ about “big tent” librarianship, arguing that “all librarians are intrinsically connected in their personal motivations for entering the profession” and “are connected by core beliefs across the different library types.” It was written “to combat the illusion of separation that currently exists within the field.”
I read it at the time, and thought, eh, okay, interesting idea. It’s not terribly new, and is pretty much what the ALA has preached for decades with its bills of rights and mission statements and other documents that supposedly cover all libraries. The ALA implies that librarians all have something in common, though the existence of the SLA, MLA, and AALL should tell us something.
The same author, a real go-getter it seems, has also be active in the campaign against HarperCollins and the creation of the Ebook reader’s bill of rights. All well and good. The library needs more public intellectuals who aren’t prattling about social media all the time and actually write about substantive issues in the field.
Andy’s Response
Response to the Annoyed Librarian blog post – http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/harpercollins-and-big-tent-librarianship/