American Public School Librarianship

"All of us, as readers, have been molded by school libraries and school librarians, and yet their story has never been told. Wayne Wiegand, the dean of American library historians, has produced a definitive and engaging account of this ubiquitous institution, which has always encouraged children to read some kinds of books but not others."—Jonathan Rose, Drew University, author of The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

"Wayne A. Wiegand has written a masterful history of school libraries and librarianship. Prodigiously researched and beautifully written, his book makes an original contribution to the history of childhood and public education, of women and the professions, and of reading and print culture. A splendid achievement."—William J. Reese, University of Wisconsin–Madison, author of Testing Wars in the Public Schools: A Forgotten History

"Wiegand deftly weaves together an amazingly broad range of primary and secondary sources documenting relevant aspects of the American histories (plural) of reading, childhood, print technology, education, civil rights, and sociocultural history from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. The focus is on school libraries in the lives of young people, which begins with their access—or lack of access—to school libraries and the role that a range of factors, including but not limited to race, class, sex, and age, play according to the their time period and location."—Christine A. Jenkins, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, coauthor of Representing the Rainbow in Young Adult Literature: LGBTQ+ Content since 1969

"Wiegand's American Public School Librarianship traverses the origins and ideas that shaped school librarianship and probes opportunities for continued development. This work is for all researchers and practitioners who engage with the often complex intersection of learning communities and the information professions."—Marcia A. Mardis, Florida State University, author of The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts and Practices

"American Public School Librarianship: A History provides us with a richly sourced account of the development of a key pedagogic site in schools and of many of the personal, institutional, and political reasons why they do—and do not do—certain things. This certainly makes it a valuable contribution.In a time when honest, thoughtful, and creative cultural resources are being limited and removed from educational sites, the multiple roles that school libraries play in these conflicts become even more important. American Public School Librarianship: A History helps us understand why."—Educational Policy