Why I #Critlib

When I decided to become a librarian I was thrilled with the possibility of working with people and making a difference and helping others see the world more objectively, scientifically. I was also enthusiastic about understanding scientifically how people interact and communicate information for enlightenment.  The promise is great but within our profession lies the commodification and reification of information: only concentrating on human relations and their inherent exchange values under capitalism and the market value on these relations.  

So I became dismayed by much of the ahistorical and apolitical talk of library science in the early years after I attended library school. We all know that our library history is filled with class struggle, and understanding people's knowledge is crucial to understanding the fight for an egalitarian society. The first college I worked at was mainly working class black and Latino kids who had been deprived of the opportunities and access to the kinds of knowledge that students had at my current school where they come from a certain level of privilege.

#Critlib was a welcomed space to discuss how to bring out the politics in our space. #Critlib provides us a way to understand the social relations that keep working class people apart based upon access to information or their knowledge on how to evaluate it. #Critlib for me helps not only to fight against the illusions we have in our profession but also help us be critical about the world around us.

But most importantly why I #critlib is a way to stay in the struggle; to continue the fight for working class people to become free or the chains of class exploitation within our profession as others continue in other spaces.