The Library in the Life of the Public: Implications of a Neoliberal Age

2016/12/29 by John Buschman · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Library Science and Administration #Social Media and Politics #University Challenges and Reforms

paper · doi:10.1086/689314

openalex publication_date 2016/12/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Wayne Wiegand consistently put forward the research agenda of the library in the life of the user. A focus on libraries’ publics is a useful variation: What, now, is the library in the life of its public(s)? In order to undertake this analysis, some practical definition of libraries’ public(s) must be clarified, and how they might have changed in recent (neoliberal) times. With this background in place, an analysis of how publics now approach libraries is possible—and clarifies library responses within our current neoliberal environment.

Citations

• Tunnel Vision and Blind Spots: What the past Tells Us about the Present; Reflections on the Twentieth-Century History of American Librarianship

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