To think radically is to get to the root (radix) of something. Six years ago Erin Jonaitis made a proposal on Twitter that I still think about regularly:
“If knowledge is power, then a key part of professional ethics for info professionals should be: Who are you empowering?”
In some ways, it’s the only question in librarianship that matters. Conservative librarianship asks Who has wisdom? Liberal librarianship asks Who has liberty? Critical librarianship asks Who has representation? But radical librarianship asks Who has power?
The important thing after that is to never stop questioning.
What is Radical Librarianship, and how does it differ from Critical Librarianship?
Rundle, Hugh. “A Highly Opinionated Taxonomy of Librarianship.” Accessed July 27, 2019. https://www.hughrundle.net/a-highly-opinionated-taxonomy-of-librarianship/ .
Alex Bayley is a tech industry refugee, independent researcher, writer, educator and community builder. They live in Ballarat, west of Melbourne, Australia.
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