Wayne A. Wiegand

"Part of Our Lives challenges the conventional idea that public libraries are valuable mostly because they are essential to democracy. Instead, this book uses the voices of generations of public library users to argue that Americans have loved their libraries for the useful information they make accessible; the public spaces they provide; and the commonplace reading materials they supply that help users make sense of the world around them."--

A People's History of the American Public Library

Part of Our Lives

Shirley A. Wiegand

In The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South, Wayne A. and Shirley A. Wiegand tell the comprehensive story of the integration of southern public libraries. As in other efforts to integrate civic institutions in the 1950s and 1960s, the determination of local activists won the battle against segregation in libraries. In particular, the willingness of young black community members to take part in organized protests and direct actions ensured that local libraries would become genuinely free to all citizens. The Wiegands trace the struggle for equal access to the years before the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, when black activists in the South focused their efforts on equalizing accommodations, rather than on the more daunting—and dangerous—task of undoing segregation. After the ruling, momentum for vigorously pursuing equality grew, and black organizations shifted to more direct challenges to the system, including public library sit-ins and lawsuits against library systems. Although local groups often took direction from larger civil rights organizations, the energy, courage, and determination of younger black community members ensured the eventual desegregation of Jim Crow public libraries. The Wiegands examine the library desegregation movement in several southern cities and states, revealing the ways that individual communities negotiated—mostly peacefully, sometimes violently—the integration of local public libraries. This study adds a new chapter to the history of civil rights activism in the mid-twentieth century and celebrates the resolve of community activists as it weaves the account of racial discrimination in public libraries through the national narrative of the civil rights movement.

Civil Rights and Local Activism

The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South

Marija Dalbello

Pamela Spence Richards

"A broad, comparative history of librarianship, this intriguing work goes beyond the standard focus on institutions and collections to help you explore the part modern librarianship played--and continues to play--in forming Western cultures"--

constructing the heritage of western cultures

A history of modern librarianship

Anne Lundin

Sponsored by the Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America, this volume features a selection of ten papers compiled from the Center's second national conference, accompanied by a detailed introduction. Presented by scholars from diverse backgrounds, the essays center on the emerging, interdisciplinary field of print culture. They examine children's literature and related print materials from a cultural perspective and discuss the influence of ideological, political, and material factors on the reader. Moreover, the authors join a cultural debate over the nature of childhood in specific historical periods.

The Cultural Work of Children's Literature

Defining Print Culture for Youth

A broad, comparative history of librarianship, this intriguing work goes beyond the standard focus on institutions and collections to help you explore the part modern librarianship played—and continues to play—in forming Western cultures. Previous histories of libraries in the Western world—the last of which was published nearly 20 years ago—concentrate on libraries and librarians. This book takes a different approach. It focuses on the practice of librarianship, showing you how that practice has contributed to constructing the heritage of cultures. To do so, this groundbreaking collection of essays presents the history of modern librarianship in the context of recent developments of the library institution, professionalization of librarianship, and innovation through information technology. Organized by region, the book addresses the widely recognized, international impact of Anglo-American librarianship and its continuing influence over the past century, combining critical analysis with chronological histories of modern librarianship in Europe, North America, Australia/New Zealand, and Africa. An introductory chapter explains the origins of the project, and a concluding chapter examines the effects of digitization on modern librarianship in the 21st century.

Constructing the Heritage of Western Cultures

A History of Modern Librarianship

Wiegand examines the development of ALA from 1876 to 1917 in this masterful tale. He looks at the issues that existed during those years, the conflicts, and the changing characteristics of ALA's Executive Board, and succeeds in giving us a particularly revealing picture of the nature of the profession. He analyzes the three elements of Dewey's motto, `The best reading for the largest number at the least cost, ' and how they characterized ALA's development as the leaders sought to accomplish those goals. Wiegand makes his points carefully in this story of a `struggle to accommodate shifting pressures and power groups within the world of librarianship. This is a perceptive, reliable recounting of our early history, and will stimulate a great deal of discussion. Wiegand's book deserves a wide audience. Wilson Library Bulletin

The American Library Association, 1876-1917

The Politics of an Emerging Profession

Diana Tixier Herald

Genres demystified: more than 5,000 titles classified by genre, subgenre, and theme.

A Guide to Popular Reading Interests

Genreflecting

James Philip Danky

In the modern era, there arose a prolific and vibrant print culture--books, newspapers, and magazines issued by and for diverse, often marginalized, groups. This long-overdue collection offers a unique foray into the multicultural world of reading and readers in the United States. The contributors to this award-winning collection pen interdisciplinary essays that examine the many ways print culture functions within different groups. The essays link gender, class, and ethnicity to the uses and goals of a wide variety of publications and also explore the role print materials play in constructing historical events like the Titanic disaster. Contributors: Lynne M. Adrian, Steven Biel, James P. Danky, Elizabeth Davey, Michael Fultz, Jacqueline Goldsby, Norma Fay Green, Violet Johnson, Elizabeth McHenry, Christine Pawley, Yumei Sun, and Rudolph J. Vecoli

Print Culture in a Diverse America

Anne H. Lundin

Wayne Weigand

Donald G. Jr. Davis

First Published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Encyclopedia of Library History

Thomas Augst

Libraries—public, school, and academic libraries—are ubiquitous cultural agencies. Yet how much do we know about the multiple ways that they serve and enrich our culture? These essays explore the role of the library in the life of the reader and the library as a place in the life of its users. Contributors are Thomas Augst, Ari Kelman, Elizabeth Jane Aikin, Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray, Christine Pawley, Juris Dilevko and Lisa Gottlieb, Jean L. Preer, Jacalyn Eddy, Benjamin Hufbauer, and Emily B. Todd.

The Library as an Agency of Culture

How civil liberties triumphed over national insecurity

Red Scare in the Heartland

Books on Trial

Dorothy Steffens

A Look at One Hundred ALA Presidents

Members of the Club

Donald G. Davis

"The Encyclopedia of library history focuses on the historical development of the library as an institution."--Page ix.

Sarah Wadsworth

The story of a historic library of womens writing at the 1893 Worlds Fair

Wayne A. Wiegand

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