Civil Society and the Role of Libraries

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Civil Society and the Role of Libraries

• Nancy R. John
• University of Illinois at Chicago

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Libraries play a key role

• Inform citizens so they can make effective
  choices
  
• Engage citizens in the issues of the day
• Expose citizens to the diversity of the world
• Teach citizens about different viewpoints

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Why is this a key time?

• Issues
• Digital inclusion
• Marketplace inclusion
• Societal issues poverty, health, food supply,
  education, environment
  
• 2002 Johannesburg U.N. Summit on Sustainable
  Development identifiedwater, energy, health,
  agriculture and biodiversity

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Defining civil society

• What it is not
• Why it is important
• A working definition
• A third sector of society alongside the state and
  the market values include freedom of
  association,freedom of expression, participatory
  democracy, and respect for diversity the sector
  between the government and the family.

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Defining civil society

(source http//www.kcenter.com/phls/civil.htm )
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Some key strategies

• The engaged university
• Partnerships
• Outreach
• Open access

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Engaged university

• Partnerships
• Student involvement in the community
• Cooperation
• Innovation in curriculum
• Learning community

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UICs Great Cities Commitment

• Established in 1993, but idea around much longer
• Permeates the university
• Decentralized approach
• Simple idea a great city has a great university
  that helps it to solves its problems

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Great Cities _at_UIC
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UIC Library Partnerships

• U.S. Department of Energy http//doe.lib.uic.edu/
  
• Printers Row Book Fair http//www.printersrowbook
  fair.org
  
• Local museums and professional groups
• Local libraries

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UIC Library Outreach

• High schools
• Museums
• Libraries
• Civic groups
• Donors

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UIC Library Open Access

• On-site users http//dosfan.lib.uic.edu
• Reciprocal arrangements
• 50 Illinois universities
• 3 local high schools
• alumni
• corporate members
• hospitals
• Public

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Key areas of a civil society

• Intellectual freedom
• Information literacy
• Service to the community
• Access to information

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Intellectual freedom

• Importance of ideas in civil society
• Ideas are tested only when citizens acquires a
  knowledge of different viewpoints
  
• Ideas and knowledge must be preserved and made
  accessible

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Information literacy

• Citizens need to acquire the skills to access and
  use information
  
• For the library, this means teaching skills not
  just giving answers
  
• For the university, this means librarians in the
  classroom
  
• Libraries of all kinds provide continuous
  lifelong learning

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Service to the community

• Public (and school) libraries often serve as
  community meeting places
  
• Libraries serve through outreach to the
  community
  
• Librarians have skills to promote working
  together and respectful sharing of ideas
  
• Libraries cut across many types of citizen groups

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Access to information

• Libraries buy, license, collect, catalog,
  maintain, and preserve information and provide
  access to citizens
  
• Libraries cooperate by
• Lending (sharing)
• Buying (joint purchase)
• Preserving (joint storage)

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Why should universities (and their libraries)
support civil society?

• It makes for a better university
• Its the right thing to do
• No agency is better suited
• We reach citizens at an important stage in their
  lives
  
• Citizens engaged in civic life support their
  universities and their libraries