The Road to New Librarianship

The word atlas generally conjures up a road trip, and R. David Lankes traveled to “29 locations on three continents” to put together The Atlas of New Librarianship. But his atlas is more about data than maps—data collected from a variety of sources and providing the basis for “new librarianship,” by which he means “the mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities.” The atlas maps the six major concepts contained in this statement, offering for each a visual representation and then discussions of a related ideas called “threads.” Following this are 140 “agreement supplements” that provide additional ideas, examples, conversation starters, resources, and more. In mapping a future direction for librarianship, Lankes gives us plenty to think about. The work is copublished by MIT Press and ALA’s Association of College and Research Libraries.

Indexed. MIT Press. 408p. $55. 978-0-262-01509-7.