Event

From the “People’s University” to the “Mall for the Mind”: Public Libraries, Contingent Labor, and the New Economy

This is an online event.

In the 1990s, public libraries underwent a historic transformation catalyzed by new digital technologies, patrons’ changing demands, and neoliberal commitments to making public institutions and the individuals who used them more entrepreneurial. These changes are evident in the architecture and organization of space, as well as libraries’ outreach to the growing ranks of displaced contingent workers and self-employed who struggled to find stability outside the structure of conventional, full-time work. As public libraries sought to help their patrons maintain a foothold in the changing economy, they were challenged to assert their own distinctive value as once-restricted resources became widely available.

Join the conversation at the Dina G. Malgeri Modern American Society & Culture Seminar. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Learn more.

Purchasing the $25 seminar subscription gives you advance access to the seminar papers of all seven seminar series for the current academic year. Subscribe at www.masshist.org/research/seminars. Subscribers for the current year may login to view currently available essays.

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