Owen Massey McKnight > Revolting librarians

The pun in the title is intended, of course, for here is a collection of 30-odd poems, stories, and articles on revolting librarians--those who revolt against the system and those who are revolting because they are the system.
Georgia Mulligan, College & research libraries

This book is one of the lasting monuments of the library underground, though the contributors surely never imagined this kind of respectful archiving. Thirty years on, its mixture of wild-eyed idealism and bleary-eyed realism is still a testament of solidarity with the enthusiastic, disgruntled or just plain bolshy librarian, the sort of thing that the Association of Assistant Librarians did so well before putting on a tie and becoming the Career Development Group.

The introduction by one of the editors gives the best insight into its utopian aims and get-your-hands-dirty production. For context, try Toni Samek's Intellectual Freedom Within the Profession: A Look Back at Freedom of Expression and the Alternative Library Press. As much as possible will be reproduced here, respecting the copyright of those contributors who chose to retain it, and the "D© Copy. Do Something." exhortation for the rest.

The sequel Revolting Librarians Redux has just been published (June 2003). Jessamyn West's A Short and Inexact History of Progressive Librarianship provides the background to her co-editing it with typical pith.

Some contemporary reviews from the library literature:

• Berry, John N., 1973. Little red book. Library journal 98(4) 515
• Conaway, Charles Wm., 1974. Revolting librarians. Library resources & technical services 18(3) 294-295
• Darling, Eugene, 1973. Are librarians revolting? Library union caucus newsletter 2(1) 5
• Minudri, Regina, 1972. Revolting librarians. Synergy 39 27
• Mulligan, Georgia, 1973. Revolting librarians. College & research libraries 34 165-166

Copies appear to be plentiful in American libraries and second-hand. After all, the introduction claims a print-run of four thousand copies, distributed by the upstart Booklegger Press and those revolutionaries at the American Library Association; there were at least three printings taking the total to 15,000 copies. The bibliographic details are:

Revolting librarians / by Celeste West, Elizabeth Katz et al. -- San Francisco : Booklegger Press, 1972. -- 158 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. -- ISBN 0-912932-01-5