TY - JOUR

T1 - When librarians speak up

T2 - Justifications for and legitimacy implications of librarians’ engagement in social movements

AU - Kann-Rasmussen, Nanna

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Purpose: Much of the existing research on librarians who engage themselves in either climate issues or in agendas concerning minorities has a normative character. This article presents a non-normative discussion of how librarians’ engagement in certain social movements manifests itself in public libraries, how librarians justify their engagement with specifically the LGBT+ movement and the climate movement and what it might entail in terms of legitimacy.Design/methodology/approach: Besides an extensive international literature on libraries and climate/LGBT+ issues, the article draws on data from an interview study with librarians from Denmark and Sweden. Theoretically the article utilizes the orders of worth framework, which focuses on librarians’ justifications for engaging in certain agendas in society.Findings: Active engagement in social and green agendas takes place through strategies of education, efforts to make the cause more visible in the library, and by being an example. Justifications for active engagement in social movement agendas draw on inspirational, civic, projective and green orders of worth. Originality/value: Much of the existing research on librarians who engage themselves in either climate issues or in agendas concerning minorities has a normative character. However, this study shows that there is no causal (positive or negative) relation between active engagement in social movements’ causes and legitimacy of libraries, but that the justifications for doing so might have an impact on legitimacy.

AB - Purpose: Much of the existing research on librarians who engage themselves in either climate issues or in agendas concerning minorities has a normative character. This article presents a non-normative discussion of how librarians’ engagement in certain social movements manifests itself in public libraries, how librarians justify their engagement with specifically the LGBT+ movement and the climate movement and what it might entail in terms of legitimacy.Design/methodology/approach: Besides an extensive international literature on libraries and climate/LGBT+ issues, the article draws on data from an interview study with librarians from Denmark and Sweden. Theoretically the article utilizes the orders of worth framework, which focuses on librarians’ justifications for engaging in certain agendas in society.Findings: Active engagement in social and green agendas takes place through strategies of education, efforts to make the cause more visible in the library, and by being an example. Justifications for active engagement in social movement agendas draw on inspirational, civic, projective and green orders of worth. Originality/value: Much of the existing research on librarians who engage themselves in either climate issues or in agendas concerning minorities has a normative character. However, this study shows that there is no causal (positive or negative) relation between active engagement in social movements’ causes and legitimacy of libraries, but that the justifications for doing so might have an impact on legitimacy.

U2 - 10.1108/JD-02-2022-0042

DO - 10.1108/JD-02-2022-0042

M3 - Journal article

VL - 79

SP - 36

EP - 51

JO - Journal of Documentation

JF - Journal of Documentation

SN - 0022-0418

IS - 1

ER -