"Praise the Lord and Pass the New Editions"
UWSP Librarian Publishes Book About Libraries and American Society During World War II

Dr. Patti Clayton Becker, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the University Library's Reference Department, has published Books and Libraries in American Society During World War II: Weapons in the War of Ideas.  The 294-page work is offered by Routledge as part of their series Studies in American Popular History and Culture.

The work, based on her UW-Madison dissertation, Up the Hill of Opportunity: American Public Libraries and ALA during World War II, describes how America's public libraries dealt with the daunting challenge of meeting new demands for war-related library services and materials with Depression-weakened collections, inadequate budgets and demoralized staff, in addition to continuing to serve the library's traditional clientele of women and children seeking recreational reading, especially fiction. It also chronicles the efforts of the American Library Association (ALA) to meet wartime demands by creating new programs to be implemented by local libraries.  During mobilization many librarians purchased technical materials to assist library users in acquiring skills needed in the expanding workforce.  After the U.S. entered the war public libraries held film forums to discuss current issues, mounted patriotic exhibits, and participated in the Victory Book Campaigns to collect supplemental reading material for armed forces libraries, among other local activities.

While libraries responded to their communities’ library needs as best they could, the American Library Association (ALA) under the leadership of Executive Secretary Carl H. Milam turned to the federal government for support for its ambitious war program to put libraries in official war service. Shedding librarianship’s customary neutrality, ALA believed that public libraries should participate in disseminating government propaganda and in promoting the American democratic political system, even if it meant violating the civil liberties of library users. However, ALA met significant resistance and indifference from legislators and government agencies that did not share the association’s view of public libraries as essential community institutions. Furthermore, many librarians and library users rejected ALA’s attempt to expand the jurisdiction and purpose of the American public library.

"Ever since the days of the Viet Nam war I have been interested in how war affects the home front," says Patti.  Her English master’s thesis (Drew University, 1985) was on the war novels of Edith Wharton (Limitations of the imagination: the war fiction of Edith Wharton).  She has presented material on Wisconsin libraries during WWII at the Wisconsin Library Association (WLA), on the Victory Book Campaigns at SHARP (the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing) and ALA conferences, and on American libraries during WWII at a meeting of the Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians (WAAL).  In May of 2003 she published "In Time of War" in American Libraries, 34/5: 54-57.

Books and Libraries in American Society During World War II: Weapons in the War of Ideas is available at the UWSP Library.

We are also pleased to announce that Patti's new book is listed as "only 1 left in stock--order soon," at Amazon.com!

 Photo courtesy of UWSP News Services