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Budd, John M. Self-Examination: The Present and Future of Librarianship. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited (Beta Phi Mu Monograph Series), 2008. 281p. alk. paper, $60 (ISBN 1591585910). LC 2007-19948.
Professor John M. Budd introduces his latest book, Self-Examination: The Present and Future of Librarianship, not simply with a summary of chapters, but with a rousing elbow into the ribs of a profession that seems to dismiss the work of its most important thinkers (such as Michael Gorman and Jesse Shera) "as mere ruminations or reminiscences." Budd suggests that their thought—and, by association, his thought as well—is critical to founding a professional philosophy for librarianship, a philosophy that is long overdue. From the earliest pages, Budd implicitly asks his readers to join him in his "quest for meaning in the profession" and to keep the phrase "consciousness of purpose" always at the front of our minds. To do so, we must be willing to question our own beliefs and our own actions (which may in fact contradict our stated beliefs), and even the professional associations from which we seek guidance. "Professional meetings can all too easily become places where orthodoxy is confirmed," warns Budd, "where universal authority is expressed through the reduction of communication to monologue." Over and against "monologue," Budd posits dialogue and spirited exchange, where disagreement and debate are crucial to librarianship’s self-critical development. "Evolution happens, but the evolution of librarianship should be intentional, guided by professionals who are cognizant of and sensitive to the world in which librarianship exists… and will exist" (ellipses in original).
Self-Examination is an extended meditation on a number of issues that are central to John M. Budd’s career as a diagnostician of the library and information professions. Professor in the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Budd is the author of several previous books and articles that include most recently The Changing Academic Library: Operations, Cultures, Environments (2005). Budd’s diagnoses arise from keen and skeptical observation, a depth of research, and a philosopher’s ability to distill a clear point from a complicated and sometimes muddied field of investigation. And, like a philosopher, Budd commands a skill at carefully constructing and arguing his points.
Self-Examination proceeds chapter by chapter across the broadest possible themes for our times: professional ethics, intellectual freedom, democracy, the education of librarians, and so on. There isn’t space enough in this review to discuss Budd’s scrutiny of each of these topics, but examining a single chapter as representative of the others will give us some idea of Budd’s approach. The book’s sixth chapter is entitled "The Information Society," and it opens with four basic claims, which are more or less paraphrased here: first, "[w]e now live in an ‘Information Society’ in which communication, information…, and knowledge are essential for both the good life and the successful life"; second, "[t]he Information Society has depended on technological innovation…"; "third, [t]echnology is different from science" and thus has its own ontology (philosophy of being); and fourth, this results in a "different epistemology, ethics, economics, and politics."
As in other chapters, Budd first surveys the landscape of writings on his subject, here the concept of an "Information Society" (I hesitate to use the phrase "literature review" because Budd’s surveys are much more robust than that phrase suggests). After a substantial mapping of debates and definitions, Budd clarifies precisely how these issues affect librarians and library users. He insists, for instance, that an Information Society should enable us to swerve away from "proprietary stance[s] on the part of organizations" and toward "cooperation and the relaxing of a proprietary attitude," as in library consortia. But the most thought-provoking and impassioned section of this chapter (and perhaps in the entire book) finds Budd wrestling strongly against "consumption’s ideology," which is taking root in libraries. "[T]he tactic employed by public libraries of emulating bookstores," proclaims Budd, "is an abandonment of any contribution to a vibrant public sphere." What’s more, the reduction of information exchange and knowledge production to a model of "market-driven consumerism" works directly against Budd’s concept of "civic librarianship." Instead of assessing libraries based on "circulation data, gate counts, and favor with city/county/educational administrations," a civic librarianship would look to "genuine outcomes that can include greater educational achievement…, more effective and accessible health care, a safer and cleaner environment, protection of civil liberties, and an inclusive community." He concludes the chapter with a "revised taxonomy" for a Moral Information Society, which stands juxtaposed with an Information Society steeped in consumer ideology.
Budd demonstrates a formidable knowledge of philosophy and critical theory, and Self-Examination draws heavily on the thought of John Stuart Mill, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas, among many others. Occasionally, however, Budd’s own worthwhile messages are obscured by the very theory and philosophy he invokes to support it. Peppered throughout the book are phrases that suggest Budd is aware of this minor foible: "This isn’t a trivial question," "This may seem a bit esoteric," and "This isn’t a purely academic exercise" are a few examples. Much more rarely, one negotiates a thicket of theory only to find, at its center, what approaches a platitude of the profession. In a brief sub-chapter titled "Categorizing Information," for example, Budd visits the views of several "theorists of categorization in librarianship," including Elaine Svenonius and Paul Otlet, as well as theorists John Searle and George Lakoff, to conclude that "Classification and description are tools of our profession that are genuinely effective, but not absolutely effective. They should, then, be used by professionals for the purposes they suit, subject to the judgment of professionals." One would be hard-pressed to find a librarian (or even library school student) who would hazard a disagreement.
"Self-examination is fundamental to professional progress and growth." In Self-Examination, Budd demands 21st-century librarians to look at themselves in the proverbial mirror and to question a profession where there are often "no questions, no counterpoints." Budd implores us to enliven our field with self-critical minds and productive debate, because "our professional future is… bound to the reconciliation of discontents." We must "overcome a conservatism… that preserves past action and thought as inherently good and useful" (my emphasis). Ours is a future at once bristling with challenges and unknowns but also starred with potential, innovation, and new opportunities.—David Pavelich, University of Chicago.
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