Democracy: a modern definition for the library field
| Date | 17 June 2024 |
| Pages | 1384-1395 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2024-0021 |
| Published date | 17 June 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | John Buschman |
Democracy: a modern definition
for the library field
John Buschman
University Libraries, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, USA
Abstract
Purpose –Due to contemporary threats to democracy, the topic is highly prominent in news and social
discourse. The Library and Information Science (LIS) field writes about democracy frequently and it is a core
concept underwriting many common library practices, but it lacks a working definition of modern democracy.
This article supplies a minimal definition of democracy specifically for LIS, and expands the concept to
encompass a more empirically accurate concept of library roles in democratic societies that includes the
sociology of democracy where libraries arguable play a more significant role.
Design/methodology/approach –There is an unpacking of library assumptions about operating in
democratic societies, an empirical survey of the conditions of modern democracy, and a baseline theoretical
description of democratic functioning as it currently exists.
Findings –A minimal definition of modern democracy situates library practices –and in some ways
minimizes them. However, the role of culture –the sociology that democracy presumes –comes to prominence
when the civil society role of libraries and the conditions of successful democratic functioning are examined.
Originality/value –There is now a minimal definition of democracy for LIS with this effort, but it needs
expansion. In that sense, LIS is a leading example of the undertheorized role of the sociology that democracy
presumes.
Keywords Information services, Public libraries, Librarians, Philosophy, Politics, International politics
Paper type Article
“You keep using that word.
I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Inigo Montoya
in The Princess Bride
Introduction
“In this article we attempt the impossible”(Mansbridge and Macedo, 2019, p. 60) –so say two
distinguished political theorists about defining populism. This article attempts to define
modern democracy –or at least a working definition of it for the library field –and, equally
impossible. We need one. Why? First, it is a word on seemingly everyone’s mind. For example,
the New York Times search tool returned 9,425 results for “democracy”in the period 1995–
1999. The same search returned 16,786 results for the period 2019–2023 (compared to 10,692
results for “football”). To illustrate that this is not merely better metadata increasing current
results, the five years around the fall of the Berlin Wall –1989–1993 –returned 11,840 articles.
A scan of the stories which topped those lists as the most relevant were far less alarming for
the earlier period, sometimes using “democracy”to describe an art exhibition for instance.
The same search in the Washington Post returned 2,667 results for 2022 and 3,820 results for
2023 at the time of this writing, with similar changes in tone. The reasons are clear:
democracies are in danger with the rise in right wing authoritarianism worldwide, white
nationalist populism, illiberal antidemocratic politics flourishing, the 1/6/21 insurrection and
aftermath, the accelerated radicalization –in positions and tactics –of the Republican and
other international conservative parties, and right-wing media (e.g. Chambers and Kopstein,
2023;Buschman, 2022;Lozada, 2021;Lepore, 2020). The time has come to set out what we are
talking about when we use the word “democracy”because similar warnings are being written
JD
80,6
1384
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 25 January 2024
Revised 12 May 2024
Accepted 27 May 2024
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 80 No. 6, 2024
pp. 1384-1395
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-01-2024-0021
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting