Memories of Public Libraries in Oral Histories of Accomplished Black Professionals: Methods of Finding the Library in the Life of the User
by Steven A. Knowlton
p. 109-144
Abstract
I mined 503 oral histories of prominent Black Americans for their memories of public libraries in the twentieth-century United States. I then analyzed testimonies to produce a “prosopography of sentiment”: aggregated data demonstrating how members of this demographic group in general felt about libraries. The most common themes were “reading as a pleasurable activity,” “library as a source to explore Black culture or develop Black pride,” and “library as a site for personal growth or maturation.” The most common theme with unpleasant emotional valence was “stories related to segregation or discrimination.” Most memories occurred during reporters’ childhoods or adolescences. The percentage of stories with unpleasant emotional valence declines significantly from the 1920s to the 1970s and as the population of the city increases. Within this demographic group, memories of the library often confirm the stereotypes that library advocates tend to promote.
Steven A. Knowlton is librarian for history and African American studies at Princeton University. His work has been recognized by the Justin Winsor Essay Award and published in academic journals. He coedited Libraries Without Borders: New Directions in Library History.
“How Do We Create a World Digital Library?”: The Politics and Promise of Inclusion in Inclusive Knowledge Societies
by Caroline R. Mason
p. 145-166
Abstract
The World Digital Library (WDL), a collaborative initiative between the Library of Congress and UNESCO, sought to digitize and showcase the world’s “most important cultural treasures” on a single platform. This article examines the politics of the WDL, moving beyond questions of what content was in/excluded on the platform to investigate how and by whom content was selected, described, and presented. It argues that the infrastructural design of the WDL—specifically, its centralized digital architecture and knowledge organization system—significantly shaped the distribution of authority across institutions, determining who could meaningfully contribute to this purportedly global project. In doing so, the article positions knowledge organization systems not merely as perpetuators of historical biases but also as active agents that structure present-day conditions for equitable participation in the production and dissemination of knowledge.
Caroline R. Mason holds a PhD in science and technology studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Informed by her background in the history of technology, her research examines the infrastructures and technologies that shape historical knowledge production.
Daughters Online: Identity Formation and Information Behavior Among Undergraduate Women of African Immigrant Heritage
by Ana Ndumu, Maryanne Onianwah
p. 167-193
Abstract
This study describes how collegiate women of African immigrant heritage construct their online identities based on racial, ethnic, educational, and community norms. Focus groups followed by iSquares activities elicited insight on the differences and similarities in participants’ online and offline identity formation. Findings from four group sessions indicate that participants’ online information behavior facilitates private, low-stakes identity exploration. Social media use or casual browsing was more prevalent than purposive searching via search engines and databases. While participants’ online information behavior transcended ethnic and national boundaries, offline identity formation primarily reified familial, national, and ethnic group identity.
Ana Ndumu (PhD) is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland College Park’s College of Information. Her research mainly focuses on information worlds of Black diasporic immigrants living in the United States.
Maryanne Onianwah is a cybersecurity engineer at Humana. She studies immigrant information behavior and earned a bachelor’s degree in information science from the University of Maryland College Park’s College of Information.
Pure and Perfect: Reading Knowledge, Information, and Status in Early Modern England Through Manorial Accounting of the Landed Elites
by Angela Woodall
p. 194-218
Abstract
This case study explores technological, intellectual, and social change by looking at the development of information culture in early modern Europe. I do this by analyzing a set of manorial accounting books spanning the years 1577–1801. I first document the progression and consolidation of information systems developed during this time. I then highlight their relationship to normative values expounded in didactic instructional treatises. Lastly, I consider the material, intellectual, and cultural relationship between information and status. Understanding this earlier encounter with information systems and expert texts contributes a textured understanding of a transition to new forms of information technologies familiar to our own in the twenty-first century and their normative character.
Angela Woodall, PhD, is a research affiliate of the Groupe de recherches interdisciplinaires sur les processus d’information et de communication at the CELSA-Sorbonne Université in France. Her work explores the intellectual history, social-cultural construction, and governance of communication and information technology.
In Visible Archives: Queer and Feminist Visual Culture in the 1980s by Margaret Galvan (review)
Malcolm Noble
p. 219-220
In Visible Archives: Queer and Feminist Visual Culture in the 1980s
By Margaret Galvan
University of Minnesota Press, 2023, 336 PP.
Paperback, $28.00; Ebook, Free
https://manifold.umn.edu/projects/in-visible-archives
ISBN: 978-1-517-90324-4
The Smart Mission: NASA’s Lessons for Managing Knowledge, People, and Projects by Edward J. Hoffman, Matthew Kohut, and Laurence Prusak (review)
Brian Jirout
p. 221-222
The Smart Mission: NASA’s Lessons for Managing Knowledge, People, and Projects
By Edward J. Hoffman, Matthew Kohut, and Laurence Prusak
MIT Press, 2022, 176 PP.
Paperback, $22.99
ISBN: 978-0-262-54727-7
The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist by Brendan Keogh (review)
Maxwell Foxman
p. 223-225
The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist
By Brendan Keogh
Mit Press, 2023, 264 PP.
Paperback, $40.00
ISBN: 978-0-262-54540-2
Tactical Publishing: Using Senses, Software, and Archives in the Twenty-First Century by Alessandro Ludovico (review)
Alexander O. Smith
p. 226-227
Tactical Publishing: Using Senses, Software, and Archives in the Twenty-First Century
by Alessandro Ludovico
Mit Press, 2023, 324 PP.
Paperback, $50.00
ISBN: 978-0-262-54205-0
Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life by Nathan Schneider (review)
Nika Mahnic
p. 228-230
Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life
by Nathan Schneider
University of California Press, 2024, 206 PP.
Paperback, $34.95
ISBN: 978-0-520-39394-3
Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality by Benjamin Shestakovsky (review)
Nathan Schneider
p. 231-233