Self-Examination The Present and Future of Librarianship

Subjects:

• Library & Information Science » Issues & Trends

Reviews:

• Budd, whose earlier Knowledge and Knowing in Library and Information Science: A Philosophical Framework won the 2002 Highsmith Library Literature award, continues his philosophical discourse. Viewing an absence of reflection as a shortcoming in librarianship, these seven chapters provide opportunities and suggestions for reflection, with consciousness of purpose serving as the basis for reflection. Citing works by Jesse Shera, Pierce Butler, and Michael Gorman as well as Aristotle, Hobbes, Habermas, Foucault, Kant, and other philosophers, Budd examines both the epistemology and phenomenology of librarianship, exploring ethics, democracy, intellectual freedom, social responsibility, the information society, and place and identity. The major question Budd asks is, Should social epistemology and discourse ethics inform our practice? It is left for the profession to answer.
  —Library Journal April 15, 2008
• Self-Examination proceeds chapter by chapter across the broadest possible themes for our times: professional ethics, intellectual freedom, democracy, the education of librarians, and so on....Budd demands 21st-century librarians to look at themselves in the proverbial mirror and to question a profession where there are often "no questions, no counterpoints."
  —College & Research Libraries July 2008
• It's easy to get lost in the day-to-day activities of our jobs, but Budd's thought-provoking book challenges us to reflect more deeply on what we do and why.
  —American Libraries May 2008
• There is so much material contained within these chapters, spot on and controversial.
  —Info Career Trends April 30, 2008

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Genealogy of the Profession
• Chapter 2: Place and Identity
• Chapter 3: Being Informed about Informing
• Chapter 4: What's the Right Thing to Do?
• Chapter 5: In a Democracy . . .
• Chapter 6: The Information Society
• Chapter 7: Optimistic Synthesis
• References
• Index

PDF Catalogs:
LU Academic Library Spring 2008.pdf	LU Textbook Catalog Fall 2007.pdf
LU Public Library Spring 2008.pdf