Righteous Freedom Fighting

Lately I’ve been thinking about righteous freedom fighters. You know, those librarians and future-librarians who see the task of librarianship as a global one. They go to far-flung places preaching the noble words of information literacy, access, and organization for causes like equality, political agency, self-sufficiency and empowerment. Sometimes they’re easy to pick out – look for Ché t-shirts or an Adbusters magazines – but don’t stop there, because righteous freedom fighters also look like your average, well-mannered librarian. Until the topic of conversation turns to the issue of global inequality. Then you’ll know.

I had the opportunity to review a library school application letter for an aspiring library student a few weeks ago. This person shall remain nameless since I don’t have her permission to use her name, but let me tell you: I wish I could yell her name off the libraries’ rooftops, because she is a righteous freedom fighter. We’re talking CIDA Internships, volunteering in developing countries, doing literacy work for underprivileged people; all the good stuff. When (not if) she gets into library school, she’s going to be an incredible addition to our profession. I know several other librarians like her, and I’m so proud of those who take on these big, difficult issues with a mind to instilling real, positive change through library work.

There’s also the fledging group, Librarians Without Borders. They describe themselves as a group of “socially-minded librarians” (a.k.a. righteous freedom fighting librarians), “who wanted to address the vast information resource inequity existing between different regions of the world. Our vision is to build sustainable libraries and support their custodians and advocates -- librarians.” The stuff they’re doing is really impressive – Building a library in Angola, a student trip to Guatemala, salvaging cultural heritage in Haiti. This type of work goes beyond the local public library, and extends to places where basic assumptions like reading, freely accessing information, or having the infrastructure in place to support electronic information resources is simply not there.

There was a time, many moons ago when I thought I’d be a righteous freedom fighter. As a political science student, I pictured myself deep in the Peruvian jungle, slashing through heavy vines and slapping away gigantic bugs, to share with locals the world of – well of any number of things, really. Political empowerment, gender equality, enriched grains. You name it. And even my application letter to library school had a line that read, “a Master of Information Studies degree will give me the skills and knowledge to teach others how to access information. This process – which is the formative step in learning, education, and creating knowledge – is to key to people's engagement and empowerment.” And yes, I DO that at work. I help students and faculty and staff learn how to access information and think critically about their information sources. Except I do that in my really comfortable office. I’m surrounded by people with the same opportunity and privileges I have. Not exactly what I’d had in mind when I wrote those righteous freedom fighting-words. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my job. I love my students. I love my colleagues. And frankly I love my office. But righteous freedom fighting it is not. Somewhere between library school and professional development and wanting to pay of my student loans, I lost sight of becoming a righteous freedom fighter.

Does anyone else thing about that stuff, or am I just angsty? Any suggestions on how to get my righteous freedom fighting fill without, you know --- quitting my job, burning my office clothes and booking a one-way ticket to the developing world?