Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out

by Katia Roberto, Jessamyn West

Overview

"Revolting librarians aren't defined by what they are, they are defined by what they do. In fact, it's not even what they do, but how they do it"--Katia Roberto and Jessamyn West, in the Preface.

This compilation of witty, insightful, and readable writings on the various aspects of alternative librarianship edited by two outspoken library professionals is a sequel to Revolting Librarians, which was published in 1972. The contributors, including Alison Bechdel, Sanford Berman, and Utne Reader librarian Chris Dodge, cover topics that range from library education and librarianship as a profession to the more political and spiritual aspects of librarianship. The contributions include critiques of library and information science programs, firsthand accounts of work experiences, and original fiction, poetry and art. Ten of the original librarians who wrote essays for Revolting Librarians back in 1972 reflect upon what they wrote thirty years ago and the turns that their lives and careers have taken since.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786416080
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	05/21/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	229
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

K.R. Roberto is the Head of Monographs Original Cataloging at the University of Georgia. Jessamyn West is a community technology librarian and a moderator of the massive group blog MetaFilter.com. She lives in a rural area of Central Vermont where she teaches basic computer skills.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments     
Preface     
Introduction     

I. Still Revolting After All These Years: Words from the Original Revolters    
Elizabeth Katz     
Marilyn Gell Mason     
Art Plotnik     
Sanford Berman     
Jana Varlejs     
Judy Hadley     
Elspeth Pope     
Reva Basch     
Noel Peattie     
Paul Axel-Lute     

II. Library School Is Revolting     
Getting the Letters: Library School Redux     
Accreditation: What’s All the Fuss?     
Dykes to Watch Out For: Food for Thought     
Why Mo Is Going to Library School     
What I Really Learned in Library School     
What Library Schools Still Aren't Teaching Us     

III. Sex, Drugs, and Will You Please Be Quiet—Our Revolting Jobs     
Labia Lumps, Chunky Discharge, and Other Things They Never Taught Me in Library School  
The Other Side of a Balanced Collection     
Failures in Neo-Corporatism: A Random Walk through a University Library    
Taking a Stand     
Are We So Progressive? The Value of Professional Children’s Librarianship    
I Was a Teenage Anarcho-Terrorist     

IV. Creatively Revolting Self-Expression     
The Growing Web of Catastrophe: The Story of a Mad Librarian     
Young Somali Women in the Library     
Personas Non Gratas; or, An Archivist's Classification of Problem Patrons    
Another Day in the Life of… Reference Librarian     
Weather Report: Hale and Drivel (or Matt Hale Visits My Library)     
A Librarian's Suicide Note     
Song of the Reference Librarian     

V. Our Revolting Issues     
Radicals Defending Tradition: An Appeal to the Baby Boom Generation     
Old Maids and Fairies: The Image Problem     
Library Ethics and the Problem with Patriotism     
In the Stacks and in the Sack: An Undercover Look at Librarians and Erotica    
Librarians! Into the Workers’ Corner!     
My Life as a Librarian Exposed! Personal Websites and the Librarian Stereotypes   
Revolting Vocabulary: Mental Health and Language in Revolting Librarians    
Silencing Sandy: The Censoring of Libraries' Foremost Activist     
Libraries to the People, Redux     
Libraries—It’s a Good Thing     
Pioneering Progressive Library Discourse     
“Check Out Those Buns”; or, What Do You Say to a Male Librarian?     
Status Quo/Revolution: Language to Silence Dissent in Librarianship    

VI. Day to Revolting Day: Our Stories     
What Do Radical Librarians Do? or, Which Way to the Black Bloc?     
Maimonides in the Stacks; or, Digitize This!     
Diary of a Revolting Librarian     
Library Service to the Insane     
The Lost Language of Libraries     
Damage Noted: Journal of a Public Librarian     
High Calling/Low Salary     
“Being a Cataloger Is Better Than Gutting Fish for a Living Because…”    

VII. Unclassifiable     
Astrology and Library Job Correlation     
Why Librarian: The Musical Is Doomed Before It Starts     
Stuck Between a Rock and Another Rock: Job Title Worries      
Hey, Book Wranglers!     
A Bit More Than a Year of Library Reading: A Revolting Bibliography    

See Also: A Collection from Our Contributors     
About the Contributors     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

thought-provoking...recommended”—Library Journal; “witty, insightful, and readable”—Library Juice; “a friendly, nostalgic style...a fun read”—Booklist; “useful, funny, and insightful bits and observations on the current state of librarianship”—Progressive Librarian; “excellent book...required reading for every in-coming library student...absolutely invaluable text”—Blue Ear; “buy the book...read the book...giftwrap it and send it to your library director”—ExLibris News; “invest in a copy posthaste...these essays, personal stories, comics, poems and arguments challenge us to think and to expand our horizons”—Info Career Trends; “recommend[ed]”—Counterpoise.

From the Publisher

a friendly, nostalgic style...a fun read

Booklist

witty, insightful, and readable

Library Juice

thought-provoking...recommended

Library Journal