Year: 1986
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines the social responsibility movement in the public library and law library communities. The paper explains the struggle within each library association when determining whether to take official positions on social issues of the day, or remain neutral and focus on providing the public with informational and educational materials. The article also discusses the development of the social responsibility movement in the library systems separately. First, the paper provides a history of the early developments in the public library movement. Mr. author examines the debates that took place among ALA members in the 1960s and 1970s regarding the appropriate role the library association should play in regards to social and education issues. The second half of the article focuses on similar debates within the law library movement between the 1960s and 1980s. The article points out that the law library associations have been more likely to take an official stand on areas involving sex discrimination and racial discrimination however, other social issues remain hotly debated. One exception to this general rule is the 1985 support for a nuclear freeze. Mr. Torres recommends follow up studies be conducted to determine the impact the library social responsibility movement has had on society.
Author: Arturo Torres
Institution: Texas Tech University
Language: English
Subfield: Library and Information Sciences
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3122731177