The Political Economy of Andrew Carnegie's Library Philanthropy, with a Reflection on its Relevance to the Philanthropic Work of Bill Gates

Abstract

When it was announced in 1997, Bill Gates' library philanthropy programme attracted a tremendous amount of media attention. A central feature of that coverage was a renewed interest in Andrew Carnegie's library building programme. While identifying the historical similarities between Carnegie and Gates is an interesting exercise, failure to ground these comparisons in a critical policy analysis frame that attends to the political economy of largescale private philanthropy seriously limits, if not jeopardizes, the public library community's ability to respond to the broader cultural implications of Gates' library programme. Here, the radical philanthropic approach is used to frame a historical analysis of Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy as a response to the contemporary class warfare of the period, within which he was deeply implicated. Unpacking Carnegie's library philanthropy for its ideological importance in the struggle over the ownership and control of the means of industrial production provides a powerful analytic lens through which to view capital's updated hegemonic project, as reflected in Gates' philanthropy, which is designed to bring software and internet connectivity to America's public libraries.

Deriving factors for library corporate social responsibility using thematic and weighting analysis

“…Moxley and Abbas (2016) stated that around 2,500 libraries were constructed between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in local communities and higher education institutions in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. This work and donations are still at the present time, as evidenced by the donations made by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to libraries (Stevenson, 2010).…”

“…In Arabic and Islamic countries, Waqf is a source of sustainable financing through which libraries can overcome challenges (Muthanna and Sang (2019). In addition, partnerships fall under the Philanthropic School of Corporate Social Responsibility (Stevenson, 2010) such as Andrew Carnegie generous donations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Another important issue is the library users' issues because library users are at the centre of the library services.…”

Towards Culture 3.0 – performative space in the public library

“…For Carnegie the libraries were a cradle of democracy, a breeding ground for self-made men, a centre for self-improvement and entertainment for the workers. In an American context, private patronage, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, still plays an important role in the development of libraries (Stevenson 2010), but public patronage is today without doubt the main source of funding for libraries. If we look at the Nordic countries, public patronage is almost the only source of public library funding, and libraries are seen as a cornerstone in the strategy of democratisation of culture.…”