Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Capturing Our Stories: An Oral History of Librarianship in Transition


Smith, A. Arro. Capturing Our Stories: An Oral History of Librarianship in Transition. Neal-Schuman, 2017. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1461-8

Description

This oral history draws from the professional life stories of dozens of librarians to chronicle the transitional period of the second half of the 20th century, which brought monumental upheaval to librarianship. Providing memories for the contributors’ peers and valuable background and context to those just entering the field, this book also offers a primer of oral history theory and methodology for those studying the form.

Table of Contents 

Part I    Our Stories
Introduction
Chapter One    Becoming a Librarian
  • The Decision to Become a Librarian
  • Library School Memories
Chapter Two    Cliché and Stereotype
  • Use of Cliché
  • Stereotype and Cliché
  • Discussing the Stereotype
  • Stereotypes within the Profession
  • Stereotypes outside the Profession
Chapter Three    Technology Memories
  • Precomputer Technology
  • Early Computer Technology
  • OPACs
  • OCLC
  • Online Database Searching
  • Some Lessons Learned Regarding New Technologies
  • Technology Regrets
  • Technology Redemption
Chapter Four    Regrets
  • Promotion Regrets
  • Funding and Compensation
  • Sexism
Chapter Five    Helping People
Chapter Six    The Collective Memory of Librarianship 

Part II     How to Capture Stories
Chapter Seven    A Primer on Oral History Theory and Methodology
  • An Introduction to the Methodology: Oral History
  • History of the Method
  • Criticism of Oral History
  • An Introduction to Memory Studies as Theory
  • Collective Memory
  • Individual Memory and Criticism
  • Regret and Nostalgia
  • Cliché and Stereotype
  • Combining the Theory with the Method
  • Librarians at the Intersection of Memory Studies Theory and Oral History
  • The “So What?” Question
Chapter Eight    Practical Oral History Advice
  • A Story about Human Relationships
  • A Second Story about Human Relationships
  • Starting a Project
  • A Final Meditation on Oral History
Bibliography
Index