Radical and Revolting
“Revolting Librarians Redux” was definitely an interesting read for someone considering this field as a possible career choice. There is a certain ambivalent attitude that seems to surround this profession. Each of these radical librarians considers their job a calling, proud guardians of the freedom of knowledge. Yet the book is filled with petty complaints about the details the job often encompasses. However, despite some of these annoyances there are some genuine concerns about how libraries are being run, and what it means to be a radical librarian.
The chapter “Libraries to the People, Redux” by Chris Dodge was excellent in questioning the materials most libraries carry and why. Dodge writes about the importance of independent publications, which should be important to any librarian truly concerned with the freedom of knowledge. Many of the authors including Dodge did a great job at listing publications, and where to find them. I also really enjoyed his toast to “…contrarian librarians” a sort of all encompassing description of what makes a radical, revolting librarian.
Though some of the complaints were discouraging to someone new to the field, the notion of librarians as free thinking, always questioning, idealistic hopefuls was very inspiring. Not a bad job.