marcantel's review
3.0
Culling from the pages of Progressive Librarian journal, this collection of articles are united in their stance against library neutrality, a particular take on academic objectivity which holds that libraries should be agnostic towards the social value of library material in the selection process. Librarians generally hold to the notion that by remaining "objective" in the selection process, they are giving equal voice to all parties. What these Progressive Librarian's Guild members argue is that the library selection process is already unfairly weighted due to the inclusion of special interests (wholesalers, vendors, and other capitalists) in the selection process. Librarians who rely too heavily on vendors are already exhibiting bias against small & independent publishers, or against particular voices which the vendors themselves are biased against (and hence do not carry, or at least do not advertise). While I agree with the sentiments of the authors, the articles themselves read like typical library literature, and were not reworked to focus in on the theme of the book. Hence, the book is a bit lacking cohesion. Still, as a sampling of what one might find in the pages of Progressive Librarian this is a good collection.
rachelkc's review
3.0
Are librarians neutral? Should they be?
Some essays in this collection were more useful/educational/entertaining than others. I wouldn't call it a cover-to-cover read, but I think many teachers and librarians could use certain essays to highlight issues in their own classrooms/libraries.
My conclusions after reading/skimming: neutrality is a myth, and even if libraries themselves could pull it off (they can't), librarians definitely aren't neutral. And that can be a good thing.
Some essays in this collection were more useful/educational/entertaining than others. I wouldn't call it a cover-to-cover read, but I think many teachers and librarians could use certain essays to highlight issues in their own classrooms/libraries.
My conclusions after reading/skimming: neutrality is a myth, and even if libraries themselves could pull it off (they can't), librarians definitely aren't neutral. And that can be a good thing.
aebross's review
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
This was a really great read, and brought up a lot of points that I wish had been better covered in library school. It explores the idea of neutrality not as a "positive" aspect of librarianship, but as a quiet acquiescence to the world around us, usually to the detriment of the profession and the people it is meant to benefit. While some of the articles were a bit dense in their presentation of the subject matter, I would very much recommend this book to any librarian looking to make a positive change in library culture.
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