The Walls of Information and Freedom

Finding Human Rights in Library and Information Work

“…As Argentine Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel observes: 'freedom of the press is being threatened, as is the heritage of the peoples and their cultures which are being subdued by the prevailing globalization. Social and cultural resistance is fundamental for the sake of freedom and the rights of individuals and peoples … you, who are the ones in charge of preserving memory … can contribute … [and resist] an 'only way of thinking' … that leads to the destruction of identity and culture' (Esquivel, 2004) Wayne Wiegand, however, warns that librarianship is 'a profession much more interested in process and structure than in people' (Wiegand, 1999, p.24). Jack Andersen, meanwhile, cautions that library and information studies 'have managed to create a metaphysical discourse that tends to favour technical and managerial language use.…”