"""Arsenals of scientific and technical information"": Public Technical Libraries in Britain during and Immediately after World War I"
Black, Alistair
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/3698
Description
Title
"""Arsenals of scientific and technical information"": Public Technical Libraries in Britain during and Immediately after World War I"
Author(s)
Black, Alistair
Issue Date
2007
Keyword(s)
Libraries and society
World War I
Libraries in Britain
Public Libraries
Abstract
Although from its inception in 1850 the public library in Britain
displayed an economic dimension, attempting to respond in relatively
general ways to technical, scientific, industrial, and commercial
needs, it was not until the First World War that the institution’s “materialist”
role achieved anything like the standing of its traditional sociocultural
function. The war generated a series of economic, social,
political, and technological problems and proposed solutions. There
was considerable anxiety concerning the anticipated escalation in
postwar international competition arising from the loss of foreign
markets. The war brought into sharp relief Britain’s relatively poor
scientific and technological infrastructure. Total conflict engendered
extensive social and political disaffection and an accompanying fear
of impending radical change. In addressing these problems and
tensions, the government initiated a policy of reconstruction in the
second half of the war. One element of this policy was a planned extension
of public library services, including an upgrading of technical
and commercial information provision through the establishment of
new “dedicated” departments. In the closing years of the war and in
its immediate aftermath, public technical and commercial libraries
(generically termed “technical libraries” in this article) emerged in
some of Britain’s large cities. An analysis of plans and statements
from librarians, the business world, and political elites in support
of these new “workshop” libraries throws light on contemporary
discourses concerning the future of the economy and sociopolitical
ideas. However, outside the grand issues of economic policy and
social and political stability, discussion surrounding the intended purpose and practices of technical and commercial libraries reflected
debates and tensions in the library and information world concerning
the nature, status, and identity of librarianship, its relevance to
information work and documentation, and the future of the public
library in the postwar world.
Publisher
Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3698
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