New Librarianship’s New Promise

“New Librarianship’s New Promise” Keynote New Jersey Library Association Annual Conference, Atlantic City, NJ.

Abstract: We must make a promise with our communities. We promise to help them participate in the full scope and scale of today’s society. To not simply help the unemployed find a job, but to find meaning and respect. To not simply help the student get to college, but to do so without the shackles of crippling debt. To not simply inform the citizen, but empower them to govern themselves. The promise we must make with our communities is that we are not consumers, we are not customers. We are not an audience to democracy. We are the democracy. We are the market. We consume, we produce and we matter. This community, this city, this state, the country, matters and we will shape its destiny. And we librarians are essential forces of this promise. We are not obsolete, we are not quaint, we are the promise of the better tomorrow.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2012/NJLA.pdf