Risks and Benefits of Visibility: Librarians Navigating Social and Political Turbulence

Lor, Peter Johan

doi:10.1353/lib.2016.0025

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…As our opening quotes highlight, libraries are "forgotten as active players" in spite of the "significant contributions" that they can make to their countries. One key problem in this struggle for recognition and visibility is that libraries lack the data they need to demonstrate the development impact that they have on their local community (Lor, 2016). Unfortunately, as the quotes go on to demonstrate, these libraries often face challenges in collecting the authoritative data they need to advocate for themselves in front of government agencies and other development stakeholders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data challenges for public libraries: African perspectives and the social context of knowledge

Lynch

Young

Jowaisas

et al. 2020

Information Development

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This article sheds light on the collection and use of data by libraries in sixteen countries across Africa. It highlights the challenges that librarians and library organizations face in gathering, analyzing, and presenting data of various types for self-advocacy. In this study, qualitative data from a meeting of library representatives was analyzed to identify main challenges including: data integrity in terms of completeness, accuracy, credibility, and relevancy; infrastructure; capacity; local investment in libraries; time; and participation of data collectors and respondents. Implications for those collecting data on African libraries as well as those supporting the use of data in these contexts are discussed. The purpose of this paper is not to feed into representations of African libraries as chronically under-resourced and lacking in capacity, but rather, to constructively engage with first-hand accounts of how librarians are experiencing and navigating barriers in order to offer potential avenues forward for the field.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data challenges for public libraries: African perspectives and the social context of knowledge

Lynch

Young

Jowaisas

et al. 2020

Information Development

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“…Further, crowdsourced maps can be utilized as political advocacy tools by making small-scale efforts more visible to larger funding or political bodies in the Global South (Young, 2017;Young and Gilmore, 2017). Our work operates on similar hopes of connecting communities with the resources they need for institutional survival through elevating their visibility, as evidence shows that many libraries in Africa do not collect comprehensive data about themselves, which creates challenges in terms of local and international recognition (Lor, 2016;Lynch et al, 2020).…”

Section: Literature Review: Crowdsourcing and Mapping In Librariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits of crowdsourcing for libraries: A case study from Africa

et al. 2020

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Many libraries in the Global South do not collect comprehensive data about themselves, which creates challenges in terms of local and international visibility. Crowdsourcing is an effective tool that engages the public to collect missing data, and it has proven to be particularly valuable in countries where governments collect little public data. Whereas crowdsourcing is often used within fields that have high levels of development funding, such as health, the authors believe that this approach would have many benefits for the library field as well. They present qualitative and quantitative evidence from 23 African countries involved in a crowdsourcing project to map libraries. The authors find benefits in terms of increased connections between stakeholders, capacity-building, and increased local visibility. These findings demonstrate the potential of crowdsourced approaches for tasks such as mapping to benefit libraries and similarly positioned institutions in the Global South in multifaceted ways.

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“…These centres tackled inequalities and censorship in information provision and addressed the challenges of democratic participation in the apartheid state (Stilwell, 1997). Through the resource centre forum, they influenced the transformation of library and information services for the new democracy (Stilwell, 2001;Lor, 2016). In 1990, activist grassroots librarians also launched the Library and Information Workers' Organization (LIWO) to represent library workers who did not identify with the more mainstream, racially comprised associations [4].…”

Section: Achieving Access To Information In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Information as currency, democracy, and public libraries

Stilwell

2018

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to endorse the notion that information is the currency of democracy and explore the question of the public library’s role in promoting democracy through the provision of access to information. Design/methodology/approach A review of the literature and a case study are used. Findings From the early days of the public library, there has been a certain democratic paternalism in librarians’ views on public libraries, and ambivalence about the extent to which these libraries have provided information to the whole population. Despite this finding, the paper explores the public library’s role in providing information; the currency of information. Public libraries can contribute to the renewal of a democratic public sphere by providing free and ready access to knowledge and information, as well as safe and trusted social spaces for the exchange of ideas, creativity, and decision making. Originality/value The paper examines material from the dawn of the public library to current concerns about the role of these libraries in providing access to information, in revitalising citizenship and fostering democracy. It draws on the well-known example of the birth of democracy in South Africa and on discussions of public library neutrality and activism in contemporary France, describing limits on the achievements of libraries in these countries in the context of some current, promising examples from the USA, Britain, Denmark, and Australia.

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Risks and Benefits of Visibility: Librarians Navigating Social and Political Turbulence

Cited by 7 publications

References 19 publications

Data challenges for public libraries: African perspectives and the social context of knowledge

Data challenges for public libraries: African perspectives and the social context of knowledge

Benefits of crowdsourcing for libraries: A case study from Africa

Information as currency, democracy, and public libraries

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