Abstracts
Abstract
Radical librarianship and critical librarianship are in some ways complementary approaches to politically-motivated change within librarianship and information science. Despite their similarities, radical librarianship has remained a somewhat fringe position and has not gained the comparatively mainstream acceptance of critical librarianship. Though the history of radical librarianship stretches back to the 1960s and 1970s, it was recently promoted in the United Kingdom and Ireland through Radical Librarians Collective, an organized collective of library worker activists rooted in anarcho-syndicalist and feminist principles that was active between 2013 and 2018. Through outlining a brief history of the Radical Librarians Collective and other radical librarianship movements and groups, we reflect on the differences of approach between radical librarianship and critical librarianship. In particular, we contrast the two approaches’ differing orientation towards political action and how this impacts the dilution and appropriation of critical librarianship work in the political mainstream of librarianship with a specific focus on decolonization work in libraries. We end by considering the limitations and organizational failings of the Radical Librarians Collective as a way to consider possible futures for both radical and critical librarianship. We argue that radical librarianship offers a more practice-based approach than critical librarianship, emphasising political activism, direct action, and the building of local radical alternatives in a way that could offer a dialectical unity with critical librarianship.
Keywords:
- critical librarianship,
- Radical Librarians Collective,
- radical librarianship
Résumé
La bibliothéconomie militante et la bibliothéconomie critique sont à certains égards des approches complémentaires du changement motivé par des considérations politiques au sein de la bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l'information. Malgré leurs similitudes, la bibliothéconomie militante est restée une position quelque peu marginale et n'a pas gagné l'acceptation relativement courante de la bibliothéconomie critique. Bien que l'histoire de la bibliothéconomie militante remonte aux années 1960 et 1970, elle a récemment été promue au Royaume-Uni et en Irlande par le biais du Radical Librarians Collective. Ce collectif, organisé de travailleuses et travailleurs bibliothécaires militant.e., a été fondé dans des principes anarcho-syndicalistes et féministes, et a été actif entre 2013 et 2018. En relatant une brève histoire du Radical Librarians Collective et d'autres mouvements et groupes de bibliothéconomie militante, nous réfléchissons aux différences d'approche entre la bibliothéconomie militante et la bibliothéconomie critique. En particulier, nous comparons les différentes orientations des deux approches vers l'action politique et son impact sur la dilution et l'appropriation du travail critique de la bibliothéconomie dans le courant politique dominant de la bibliothéconomie avec un accent particulier sur le travail de décolonisation dans les bibliothèques. Nous terminons en considérant les limites et les défaillances organisationnelles du Radical Librarians Collective comme un moyen d'envisager des avenirs possibles pour la bibliothéconomie militante et critique. Nous soutenons que la bibliothéconomie radicale offre une approche plus pratique que la bibliothéconomie critique, en mettant l'accent sur l'activisme politique, l'action directe et la construction d'alternatives radicales locales d'une manière qui pourrait offrir une unité dialectique avec la bibliothéconomie critique.
Mots-clés :
- bibliothéconomie critique,
- Radical Librarians Collective,
- bibliothéconomie militante
Appendices
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