Joacim Hansson. Educating Librarians in the Contemporary University: An Essay on iSchools and Emancipatory Resilience in Library and Information Science. Sacramento, CA: Library Juice Press, 2019. 208p. Paper, $22.00 (ISBN 978-1-63400-058-1). LC 2019006528.

Abstract

We can cut straight to the chase at the outset. Every academic library (and most public libraries) should acquire this book. An important note is necessary; the subtitle of the book is more telling of the content than is the main title. This phenomenon actually reflects the expansive treatment that Hansson offers in his critical assessment both of librarianship and of Library and Information Science (LIS) today. Hansson begins his examination by quoting from the piece by Panos Mourdoukoutas, “Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money,” which was published in 2018 in Forbes but was almost immediately removed from the magazine’s website due to the intense controversy of the remarks. Fortunately, the article is preserved at www.ala.org/yalsa/sites/ala.org.yalsa/files/content/AmazonShouldReplaceLocalLibrariestoSaveMoney.pdf . The argument was that Amazon provides something better, without tax fees. As Hansson aptly notes, the absence of taxes is replaced by product charges that a large portion of the population cannot pay.