Lisa A. Raney

Just a brief update since I haven’t had one in a while. I’ve moved house recently so I have been focusing on getting settled. I am fortunate to live with very intelligent people at this time – two engineers and an anthropologist – and they help motivate me to continue to do my best. Last night, one of the engineers, the anthropologist, and I had a conversation that bounced between library advocacy, education, sociology, and political theory. This interdisciplinary approach is something that I think is missed a lot in discussions I hear about libraries and library science.

Libraries do great things and serve many roles. That cannot be denied.

And, this is a very critical time for libraries as usage continues to increase as budgets and staffing is on the decline across the board.

But, librarians need to be at the table everywhere -- not just in libraries or at library conferences, but meeting our members or patrons everywhere we go. This means in the grocery store, on the bus, and at non-library conferences.

After all, the first two of the policies included in the ALA Library Bill of Rights call for a diverse collection, “presenting all points of view on current and historical issues.” The next two are concerned with intellectual freedom: the third calls for a resistance to censorship and the fourth calls for collaboration with anyone who is engaged with resisting any threat to “free expression and free access to ideas.” The fifth calls for equity of access – in that everyone has a right to use the library. Libraries are for everyone.

The sixth policy reiterates the library’s role as a space – ensuring that spaces and meeting rooms are available to the public, again regardless of beliefs or affiliations.

So why this overview?

I think sometimes these things overlooked on all sides – by librarians, paraprofessionals, library workers, administrators, the library board, and the general public. Libraries are for everyone, and they represent many different voices and backgrounds. We aren’t big buildings with books, CDs, and libraries that only offer service to librarians based on one viewpoint. And, a big part of what we should be doing is collaborating – yes to help ensure intellectual freedom and challenge censorship - but also to add more to our conversation. There is so much more to talk about when we talk about libraries.