TY - JOUR
T1 - False optimism
T2 - Modernity, class, and the public library in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s
AU - Black, Alistair
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - In the late 1950s, the long-awaited postwar expansion in British public library services got under way. During the 1960s and 1970s, librarians and library planners became strongly optimistic about the public library's "modern" future. In keeping with the principles of egalitarianism and universalism underpinning the welfare state, a radically new philosophy, known as "community librarianship," emerged in the 1970s. Its aim was to encourage the public library to make an irreversible break with its "conservative" past and to become a truly popular institution. However, despite jettisoning a great deal of its Victorian image and embracing much of the modernity of the age, the public library was ultimately unable to live up to the visions of classlessness that library promoters had long cherished.
AB - In the late 1950s, the long-awaited postwar expansion in British public library services got under way. During the 1960s and 1970s, librarians and library planners became strongly optimistic about the public library's "modern" future. In keeping with the principles of egalitarianism and universalism underpinning the welfare state, a radically new philosophy, known as "community librarianship," emerged in the 1970s. Its aim was to encourage the public library to make an irreversible break with its "conservative" past and to become a truly popular institution. However, despite jettisoning a great deal of its Victorian image and embracing much of the modernity of the age, the public library was ultimately unable to live up to the visions of classlessness that library promoters had long cherished.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=53249102215&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=53249102215&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1353/lac.2003.0038
DO - 10.1353/lac.2003.0038
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:53249102215
VL - 38
SP - 201
EP - 213
JO - Libraries and the Cultural Record
JF - Libraries and the Cultural Record
SN - 1932-4855
IS - 3
ER -