Archival Objectivity: An Examination of Mark Greene's Article on the 'Critique of Social Justice as an Archival Imperative'

 Wallace, William A.

Greene, M. A. (2013). A critique of social justice as an archival imperative: What is it we're doing that's all that important? The American Archivist, 76(2), pp. 302-334.

Greene's article opposes recent scholarship regarding social justice as an ethical standard within archival practice. Countering other scholars, he argues that social justice has no place within an archive. He describes social justice as an act against the archivist's standard, objectivity. He acknowledges an archivist's freedoms to be a whistleblower, but says it is no different than the opportunity in any other information profession. He argues that private organizations have a right to privacy. 

I found this article to be informative as one side of archival ethics. Combined with other articles in the other direction, it lays out a good approach to the problem. I agree with his sentiments about the pursuit of objectivity despite its inherent impossibility at times. I also agree that the type of social justice he is describing does constitute an inherent bias that can damage a collection's reputation, depriving it of materials from all sides. All in all, this article gave me a lot to think about, and I recommend it to any aspiring archivist who is looking to learn more about archival ethics.

Transforming as a School Librarian and the Power of Weeding

Morgester, A.  (2018). Transforming my perspective. Knowledge Quest, 47, 2, 22-27.

Summary

Anne Morgester, a highly experienced, involved, and reflective school library leader,

shares the most simple message for those of us new to the school library:  we must

continually transform. Five pivotal career milestones allowed her to clarify her
purpose and vision. She insists that school librarians must always examine
perspectives and, if necessary, rethink practices with the guidance of one’s purpose
and vision.

Evaluation

From the start, I could relate to Morgester and felt encouraged.  She began as a

secondary English Language Arts classroom teacher and, like me, decided to
pursue a school library endorsement.  I could not, however, imagine myself being
able to gather five such impactful experiences with a young family, fettered by
familial responsibilities prioritized over a new career.  Though feeling slightly less
inspired as I read on, I realized that I could make an effort to experience any one of
the transformative opportunities detailed. Morgester explicates each of the following
experiences and argues its transformative impact:  

1.  Seek out professional leadership at the state level;

2.  Participate in rich, engaging professional development;

3.  Get involved and lead within the AASL professional organization;

4.  Invest in a collaborative district-wide effort to revise the school library job
description and train library staff to meet new expectations.

5.  Volunteer to weed a school library collection.

The last transformative experience on this list actually reignited some inspiration as
it seems to be the easiest endeavor. I could, realistically, invest a couple hours each
week weeding at a local school library.  I believe this experience will educate me in
ways that I can’t beginto understand. But, more importantly, I acknowledge a hint
of social justice in the activity of weeding. Morgester’s belief about weeding must be quoted in its entirety:

"I now believe that failure to effectively weed our collections is nothing less than a form 

of censorship.  If we don't weed effectively, either our students need a machete to bushwhack

their way to the engaging, relevant, and accurate materials we have or they simply don't

attempt to explore the shelves because what they want is buried in the mass of weeds" (27).

As a teacher of literacy, I recognize the wisdom in her stated belief.  My non-readers
do not make the first effort to experience a book because they admit being overwhelmed
with all the choices in the library.  By weeding the collection, a library can expose the
better holdings. I also suggest that the school librarian work closely with any teacher
who has a free-choice reading program.  Like several teachers at my site, we chose to
focus on a topic or genre (or combination of like-genres) each month. The librarian and
clerk then curate a couple of bookshelves for which students can more easily browse.  
In my mind, this practice is like plucking the flowers from the vast meadow so that
students may enjoy.

In the end, I appreciated Morgester’s editorial because the clear takeaway is that
school librarians must seek out opportunities to transform and we are never complete
static works.

Sacred Stacks: The Higher Purpose of Libraries and Librarianship by Nancy Kalikow Maxwell, MLS

St. Jerome in his Study, 1480 - By Domenico Ghirlandaio - 
Italian Artist - Ognissanti, Florence, Italy - SAINTS - 1480 - fresco

DiBello, Amy

Maxwell, N. (2006). Sacred stacks: The higher purpose of libraries and librarianship. 

Chicago: American Library Association.

Nancy Kalikow Maxwell, MLS, M.A., is a Jewish librarian who maximized

her time during her tenure at the Catholic University, Barry University,

by getting a degree in Catholic theology.Her book Sacred Stacks: 
The Higher Purpose of Libraries and Librarianship is a treatise about the 
spiritual and sacred qualities of libraries and librarianship.

Maxwell begins with an examination of how many Americans identify as

"spiritual, but not religious". The sacred and secular blend of libraries is something

most library patrons have identified and expressed to me over the years.

I also consider libraries to be sacred and feel blessed to have meaningful work

in our admirable profession.

There are the patron saints of librarianship to look up to St. Jerome,

St. Catherine of Alexandria, and most notably St. Lawrence,

who would not surrender the archives to Imperial Roman officials in 258 BCE,

which resulted in his being grilled alive. St. Lawrence is famous for telling

his torturers that he was done on one side and to turn him over.

Sacred Stacks equates librarians as confessors through the art of the reference

interview and social justice warriors fiercely protecting patrons' privacy.

Melvil Dewey, creator of his famous Dewey decimal classification system

referred to the education of librarians as “the suburbs of the holy field.”

Librarians do not have supernatural powers, such as parting the Red Sea,

but their knowledge and instincts with cataloging, classification and

saving patrons from drowning in fruitless Google searches, earns Maxwell’s

accolades of “Representing the universe of knowledge through organized systems

for thousands of years.”