Discourse in Librarianship

Steven Bell, associate university librarian for research and instructional services at Temple University, writes provocatively in the April 27 issue of Inside Higher Education about the lack of discourse in librarianship. According to Bell, in "traditional library literature one rarely sees an article that takes issue with the research or perspectives of a particular author." Instead, a premium seems to be placed on going along and getting along, a situation that does not promote vigorous intellectual dialogue about issues or ideas. Regular readers of Library Journal and American Libraries know that the content of those publications rarely makes intellectual demands on them. They are essentially current awareness publications, with the former title also publishing book reviews that aren't particularly insightful. At least some law librarians reading this will acknowledge that the educational sessions and discussions at the annual AALL conference are (mostly) far from riveting. Conference attendees sometimes seem to get more worked up about local restaurants than they do about the controversies of the day. Bell asserts that even in the library blogosphere, "the rules of disengagement dominate the landscape. ... Rarely does one see a post that starts with 'I have to disagree' or 'Boy, does he have it wrong.'"

It is interesting to note that the comments that follow Bell's article are not the bland posts of which Bell complaints; some of them are rather pointed, with one writer daring librarians to compare the level of discourse and engagement at an MLA conference with that at an ALA conference. Is Bell wrong about the level of discourse in librarianship, or did his article hit a collective nerve?