Questioning Library Neutrality

Questioning Library Neutrality: Essays from Progressive Librarian by Alison Lewis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Are librarians neutral? Should they be?

Some essays in this collection were more useful/educational/entertaining than others. I wouldn't call it a cover-to-cover read, but I think many teachers and librarians could use certain essays to highlight issues in their own classrooms/libraries.

My conclusions after reading/skimming: neutrality is a myth, and even if libraries themselves could pull it off (they can't), librarians definitely aren't neutral. And that can be a good thing.

View all my reviews


Further thoughts on neutrality here, here, and here.

"Neutrality doesn’t encourage our critical thinking; it doesn’t ask us to question facts that are wrong, or behaviors that are prejudiced. By this measure, neutrality doesn’t necessarily reveal injustice but further entrenches it, which is ironic." - Stacie Williams