How Public Libraries can increase civic engagement, and the ethical implications of seeking to do so.

1. I, TOO, SING AMERICA
How public libraries can encourage civic
engagement via information technology

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

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

4. 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

5. 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.

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

7. 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

8. Social capital
 Social capital: the
benefits of
reciprocity, networking, a
nd trustworthiness that
can be earned by
individuals, institutions
or communities.
 Libraries have social
capital.
 Libraries build social
capital.

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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. IT & Civic Engagement
Pessimism about possible deleterious
effects of IT on social structures sparks
assumptions about social fragmentation.

13. 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.

14. IT & social capital spiral
 Path
dependency Low social
becomes a capital
given if one
has no idea
Can’t build
another path social No IT
exists. capital via
IT
information
Can’t
access IT

15. Agape vs. Storge
Historically, motivations for encouraging
civic engagement have been paternalistic.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. IT in Libraries
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)

19. 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).

20. 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).

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

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. Conclusion:
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.

27. References
Braman, S. J. (1996). From virtue to vertu to the virtual: Art, self-  Most images were Microsoft
organizing systems, and the net. Readerly/Writerly Texts: Essays on clipart, but the following need
Literature, Literary/Textual Criticism, and Pedagogy, 3 (2), 149-166.
attribution.
Buschman, J. E. (2003). Dismantling the public sphere: situating and
sustaining librarianship in the public philosophy. Westport, CT:  Falling rates of participation:
Libraries Unlimited. http://www.cmsathletics.org/intr
amurals/2007-
Friess, S. (2002, July 25). The Web didn't kill libraries. It's the new draw.
Retrieved May 1, 2010, from Christian Science Monitor: 08/news/Spring_Bowling
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0725/p02s02-ussc.html  Thirdspace:
Marcum, D. B. (1996). Redefining community through the public library. http://api.ning.com/files/ykz2VB
Daedalus , 125, 191-205. SUxmhLHE56uHeMAQAnyNP*
McCabe, R. B. (2001). Civic librarianship: Renewing the social mission of w5Z0-
the public library. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. D6eGGBz7u8X4XuNL76C1UW
Schudson, M. (1998). The good citizen: A history of American civic life. CAGQsPVlHC5fN9NmL9cCZY
New York: The Free Press. gTK9nRsBO72vW9S91m1/disc
Schull, D. (2004). The civic library: A model for 21 st century
ussion.jpg
participation. Advances in Librarianship , 28, 55-81.  Reflect the community:
Seaver, B., Gardner, H. J., & McCleary, S. F. (1852). Report of the http://www.flickr.com/photos/les
trustees of the public library of the city of Boston. Boston, MA. terpubliclibrary/4544700087/
Uslaner, E. M., & Brown, M. (2003). Inequality, trust and civic  Use art:
engagement. American Politics Research , 31 (3), 1-28. http://synapticstimuli.com/we-
Villa, D. R. (1992). Postmodernism and the public sphere. The American are-nature/
Political Science Review, 86 (3), 712-721.