Abstract
The publication of Libraries and Democracy came during a precipitous time in our nation's democracy. This article revisits its findings and asks how this relationship was understood then and what we should reconsider in these turbulent times. The challenge is to create a defining narrative to reassess the relationship between libraries and democracy in the twenty-first century. As civic institutions , libraries evolve in concert with the nation's democratic theories and practices. They reflect the aspirations of the times in the broader context of civic faith in American democracy. With their legacy of civic activism, librarians can catalyze the shift from merely informing citizens to engaging them in the issues of their communities. As the nation's great experiment in democracy undergoes a momentous test, libraries are poised to reunite their communities, recommit to democratic practices, and reclaim their essential role as cornerstones of democracy. Libraries are. .. essential to the functioning of a democratic society. .. libraries are the great symbols of the freedom of the mind. —Franklin D. Roosevelt Democracies need libraries. An informed public constitutes the very foundation of a democracy; after all, democracies are about discourse—discourse among the people. If a free society is to survive, it must ensure the preservation of its records and provide free and open access to this information to all its citizens. It must ensure that citizens have the resources to develop the information literacy skills necessary to participate in the democratic process. It must allow unfettered dialogue and guarantee freedom of expression. All of this is done in our libraries, the cornerstone of democracy in our communities. Libraries are for everyone, everywhere. They provide safe spaces for public dialogue. They disseminate information so the public can participate in the processes of governance. They provide access to government information so that the public can monitor the work of its elected officials and benefit from the data collected and distributed by public policy makers. They serve as gathering places for the community to share interests and concerns. They provide opportunities for citizens to develop the skills needed to gain access to information of all kinds and to put information to effective use. I want to thank Jorge Reina Schement for his insightful contributions to my thinking about this topic.