圖書館與文化權威 (cultural authority)

暑假更加忙碌，必須帶領一批工讀生清理館藏，這是小螺絲釘工作人員的悲哀！

同事拿來一份 Wayne A. Wiegand 寫的文章 The politics of cultural authority (文化權威之政治學)[1]，才稍領略到 Wiegand (被稱為圖書館史學者) 的視野。

Wiegand 從(圖書館)歷史的角度來談圖書館專業 (librarianship)，他舉了一些例子(如：美國國會圖書館長的任命、舊金山公共圖書館館長 Dowlin 報廢館藏的事件 … 等) 說明為何許多重要圖書館館長常是非本行的人來擔任 (outsourcing)[2]、文化權威(權力)的作用 – 不僅在人事任命上，更顯現在知識產物(如：書刊)的價值判定上。[3]

無疑地，文化權威的政治力不僅影響到過去、且未來的圖書館服務及館藏 (已屢見不鮮！)，而觀察歷史，圖書館員是缺乏文化權威 的。但 Wiegand 仍肯定美國公共圖書館員能秉持民主傳統、滿足讀者不同的需求；正如圖書館在知識/資訊傳播上有其影響力，圖書館員在未來仍有其地位 -- 雖然文化權威 的政治力不會讓其侵犯到其他專業領域。[4]

正如 Wiegand 所言，館員若不察(或忽略)文化權威的運作力(及其弊端)是件危險的事。(No matter the time, no matter the place, no matter the position, the library profession ignores the politics of cultural authority at its own peril.)



[1] 出自 American Libraries January 1998 p.80-82

[2] 例句 High-profile library positions are persistently “outsourced” because we haven’t learned from our professional history.

That’s precisely when the politics of cultural authority kick into play most visibly and the issue of the professional qualifications of any individual’s ability and experience to “handle” information immediately becomes secondary.

[3] 例句 As Dewey saw it, the authority to determine value in information products belonged not to librarians, but to experts from other fields – scientists, intellectuals …

Dewey told us to acquire, organize, and provide access but he relinquished our authority to assign value.

[4] Librarians and information specialists will certainly have a role to play in it all, but it is unlikely that the boundaries of librarianship’s jurisdiction will usurp other professional territories. The politics of cultural authority won’t allow it.

[相關文] 對館長的期望 http://soundoffall.blogspot.com/2007/04/blog-post_20.html