The Rhetoric of an "Institution"

Like other businesses, organizations, and institutions; the library, both in particular and in general, is a business, an organization, and an institution. For the purposes of this entry, though, let us take the third term, "institution," and reflect upon the library as an institution and how this relates to library administration and management.

In our contemporary society institution is often seen as a confining word; in the case of a mental institution bearing four walls and no doors out, or in the case of a juvenile institution where young "inmates" are sequestered. But, the heart of an institution is neither of these. To be a part of an institution is to be a part of a viewpoint. An instution, large or small, brings together people that share simliar opinions with regard to promoting a particular cause.

But, the rhetoric of public support for libraries is often at odds with the institution's committment to intellectual freedoms and social responsibilities; and it seems to be becoming harder for particular libraries to talk about their social function. We cannot tell boards of trustees, government commissions, and the like, that our funtion is to stir things up or to make society feel guilty. We cannot say that taxpayers (or tuition-payers) employ us to make sure that their children will think differently than they do. Somewhere, deep down, everybody (the librarian, the average taxpayer, the typical high-schooler) knows that that is what libraries and shelves of books are for. But nobody can afford to make this fully explicit and public (anymore). In front of trustees and funding agencies librarians must remain "objective" and "unbiased." But any librarian who has read and been impressed by antiessentialists must either become cynical or put forth our own constructions.

With regard to library administration and library management libraries must hire individuals that will uphold the library's values. And, strategic planning and goal-setting must be managerial tasks that take into account funding and budget. At the same time, however, libraries must also hire individuals that uphold the value of the library as institution, librarians that uphold the community's values but that are also willing to confront heretical values that renounce certain intellectual freedoms. The organization of a library must be taken seriously as both a business and as an organization, but the library as institution should not be forsaken at the hands of the former-- When this happens, the library is no longer a library... The library becomes a cog in the machine of capitalism.

Well-intended librarians have attempted to understand and manage the institution. The point, however, is to keep the library indefinable and unmanageable; and this requires intellectual freedom.