1999 Reviews

Review of Libraries, Immigrants, and the American Experience. by Plummer Alston Jones Jr.

Jordan, Alysse D.

As any public or academic librarian with significant contact with the general public knows, the energy and commitment involved in the work that library and information specialists do is often intrinsically connected to the social welfare of the populations they serve. Even in its beginnings, the library profession in the United States concerned itself greatly with the ideals of educational opportunity, literacy, meeting needs, and connecting individuals and communities with resources, in essence providing an invaluable social service. Though the idea of librarian as social worker, advocate, and educator is not new, Plummer Alston Jones, Jr.’s Libraries, Immigrants, and the American Experience is perhaps the first volume to provide succinctly an historical context into which one might place the interactions among librarians, libraries, and early immigrant groups in the United States.