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I, TOO, SING AMERICAHow public libraries can encourage civic engagement via information technology

"Libraries can help mitigate the downside of new technology by emphasizing community connections that are both face to face and electronic, and by organizing and disseminating local information for local residents" (Schull, 2004, p. 65).

Of all the ethical responsibilities of libraries, encouraging civic engagement must be near the top of the list.

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“Be Informed Citizens” is the first of the 17 PLA Service responses from 2007.

Citizenship

What does it mean to be a citizen?

Schudson (1998): to deliberate via dialogue, never forget the rights of minorities, nor ones responsibility to posterity, and to demand of oneself “ordinary but not heroic efforts at information-gathering and civic participation” (p. 309).

Civic activities are one measurement Civic attitudes are another

What does it mean to be a citizen?

Habermas & Arendt: the public sphere is “a discursive arena that is home to citizen debate, deliberation, agreement and action” (Villa, 1992, p. 712).

A “public voice” is characteristic of civic engagement, as separate from private conversation.

My definition of civic engagement: any activity or attitude reflecting the individual’s relationship with civil society, within the public sphere, particularly when using the public voice.

Both the digital divide and falling rates of civic participations point to growing inequities that can be addressed by libraries.

Divisions

Trust & inequity

"Trust in others rests on a foundation of economic equality. When resources are distributed inequitably, people at the top and the bottom will not see each other as facing a shared fate" (Uslaner & Brown, 2003, p.2).

Inequity = little trust = less likely to participate in civic life.

Particularized trust = bonding Generalized trust = bridging

Social capital

Social capital: the benefits of reciprocity, networking, and trustworthiness that can be earned by individuals, institutions or communities.

Libraries have social capital.

Libraries build social capital.

The Digital Divide

The digital divide is both caused by and further causes civic disengagement and lack of social capital.

Falling rates of participation

Voting rates are down from earlier in the century.

People belong to fewer community organizations.

Belonging to organizations increases civic engagement, even things like bowling leagues and book clubs.

Alliances

Library partnerships can: establish new constituencies build wider support broaden and diversify sources of funding

(Marcum, 1996, p. 197). Increase bonding & bridging forms of social

capital.

Pessimism about possible deleterious effects of IT on social structures sparks assumptions about social fragmentation.

IT & Civic Engagement

Pew Internet & American Life Project

Internet use actually increases the likelihood of using public spaces, of connecting locally, and of having rich and diverse networks.

There may be downsides to IT and civic engagement, but using Facebook and a cell phone is not causing damaging social networks.

Civic engagement was increased among IT users.

IT & social capital spiral

Path dependency becomes a given if one has no idea another path exists.

Low social capital

No IT informati

on

Can’t access IT

Can’t build social capital via IT

Historically, motivations for encouraging civic engagement have been paternalistic.

Agape vs. Storge

Storge

Storge, the Greek word for love of a parent for a child: an elitist sentiment in statements such as “persons should be induced to read” to “raise personal character and condition” (Seaver, Gardner, & McCleary, 1852).

McCabe(2001): “most people aren't interested in serious education and intense civic engagement” is dismissive (p. 31).

Hearkens back to a popular image of librarian as contemptuous and holier-than-thou.

Agape

Agape, the Greek word for unconditional love for one’s fellow humans.

Library services offered BY community members (including the librarians themselves) FOR community members.

No hierarchical distinction between librarians and users.

In the virtual environment, therefore, it is the community that is understood to be the source of power in the way that the material world was understood to be in an environment that valued vertu, and the spiritual in a world focused on virtue. (Braman, 1996, p. 308)

IT in Libraries

Library use & IT

At the local, regional, and national levels, the stories people tell are more powerful than the tools they use” (McCabe, 2001, p. 150).

Internet use has revived, not destroyed, libraries (Friess, 2002).

Over-used cliché or critical meme?

The “Yes We Can” ideal of individual engagement has spurred a cultural movement of self-empowerment via social networking.

Critics such as John Buschman (2003) question the legitimacy of the capitalist model of technology: “libraries diminish the quality of the public sphere within their walls in the unthinking shift to the entertainment resources and products of the “new” economy” (p. 74).

4 ways in which libraries can add civic engagement-building IT-rich services.

Recommendations?

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Alliances

Build alliances with other civic groups by hosting them both online and in the physical library.

Pay librarians to build such partnerships through organization membership.

Thirdspace

Increase both virtual and physical thirdspace, and spur conversations with programs on local topics.

Go where the people are, such as pubs and facebook instead of waiting for them to come to the library.

Reflect the community

Reposition the library image from aloof information provider by actively reflecting community life.

This image was shot by a director who shoots & uploads photos of all sorts of community events.

Use art

Host nectarian art exhibits online and in the library, to engage the community with local ecology and to activate conversation on the psychology of place.

Today, new information technologies can increase, rather than decrease, the viability of the civic engagement aspects of a library’s mission. Mounting inequities of information access can by reined in by the use of public library technologies, as long as librarians are aware of the moral implications of access policies. The innovative and ethical use of technology in public libraries can enrich our communities morphogenetically.

Conclusion:

References

Braman, S. J. (1996). From virtue to vertu to the virtual: Art, self-organizing systems, and the net. Readerly/Writerly Texts: Essays on Literature, Literary/Textual Criticism, and Pedagogy, 3 (2), 149-166.

Buschman, J. E. (2003). Dismantling the public sphere: situating and sustaining librarianship in the public philosophy. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Friess, S. (2002, July 25). The Web didn't kill libraries. It's the new draw. Retrieved May 1, 2010, from Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0725/p02s02-ussc.html

Marcum, D. B. (1996). Redefining community through the public library. Daedalus , 125, 191-205.

McCabe, R. B. (2001). Civic librarianship: Renewing the social mission of the public library. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Schudson, M. (1998). The good citizen: A history of American civic life. New York: The Free Press.

Schull, D. (2004). The civic library: A model for 21 st century participation. Advances in Librarianship , 28, 55-81.

Seaver, B., Gardner, H. J., & McCleary, S. F. (1852). Report of the trustees of the public library of the city of Boston. Boston, MA.

Uslaner, E. M., & Brown, M. (2003). Inequality, trust and civic engagement. American Politics Research , 31 (3), 1-28.

Villa, D. R. (1992). Postmodernism and the public sphere. The American Political Science Review, 86 (3), 712-721.

Most images were Microsoft clipart, but the following need attribution.

Falling rates of participation: http://www.cmsathletics.org/intramurals/2007-08/news/Spring_Bowling

Thirdspace: http://api.ning.com/files/ykz2VBSUxmhLHE56uHeMAQAnyNP*w5Z0-D6eGGBz7u8X4XuNL76C1UWCAGQsPVlHC5fN9NmL9cCZYgTK9nRsBO72vW9S91m1/discussion.jpg

Reflect the community: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesterpubliclibrary/4544700087/

Use art: http://synapticstimuli.com/we-are-nature/