America
A recent interpretive shift in library history posits public libraries as institutions that advance the dominant culture’s ideology. Complicating the research questions that arise from such an interpretive stance is the multicultural society in which libraries in the United States operate. This article reviews selected books and articles, particularly those related to African-American experiences in and around libraries, and suggests possible ways to move toward a more inclusive American public library history.
The Boston Public Library (BPL), established in 1848, has a history of being first. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in America. It was the first public library to allow people to borrow books and materials—a truly revolutionary concept at the time. It was the first library to institute a system of branch libraries linked to a central library with the opening of the East Boston branch in 1870. And, it was the first library to establish a space specifically designed for children with the opening of the children’s room in Copley Square in 1895. Today, the BPL has more than 6 million books, serves more than 2 million people in its 26 branch libraries around the city, and is one of only two public libraries in the country that is a member of the Association of Research Libraries. All of its events are free and open to the public.
In the first fifty years of the Library History Round Table’s existence, the literature of library history has expanded to include a diversity of topics, methods, and interpretations. Particularly in regard to the American public library, interpretation shifted during that time from a model of the public library as a natural outgrowth of democratic society to one of the public library as an instrument of social control..................
