Democratic theory in library information science: Toward an emendation

Abstract

Despite quantities of popular rhetoric, democratic theory holds an aposiopetic place within library and information science (LIS) in both senses of that word: It is both in a stasis holding to basic ideas outlined 200 years ago and also a silence largely maintained. A review of a number of state-of-the-literature reviews make the case that it has not been systematically explored or applied, and most LIS work elides the questions democratic theory raises. It is time to emend this and account for a relevant intellectual source which can more firmly ground LIS practice and research in normative terms. Toward that end, three productive wellsprings of democratic theory are reviewed: Jürgen Habermas, Sheldon Wolin, and those working on democratic education (Amy Gutmann, Richard Brosio, Maxine Greene). The article concludes with an outline of some possible LIS questions and approaches drawn from these democratic theorists. IntroductionGive or take about 20 years either way, the familiar alpha and omega of democratic theory in library and information science 1 (LIS) thinking were stated 200 years ago. In 1787, Thomas Jefferson (1944) wrote thatThe people are the only censors of their governors; and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution . … The way to prevent these [errors] is to give them full information of their affairs through the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading them. (pp. 411-412) And in 1822, James Madison (1973) wrote:A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. (p. 437)The topic has not been ignored, and in fact has been broached frequently: "Democracy" as a keyword search produces almost 1,800 citations in Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts since the mid-1960s as of this writing. This journal produced a special issue on "Information Resources and Democracy" (Lievrouw, 1994), and a solid edited book (Kranich, 2001) came out of a serious focus on democracy and civic life by a recent American Library Association president. In correspondence with journal editors about this article, the author was advised that "we have seen that opening quote a lot lately;" however, the vast portion of this literature merely rehearses and repeats the basic ideas of Jefferson and Madison from 200 years ago. For instance: "Democracy vests supreme power in the people. Libraries make...

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