How often do you read professional literature that moves you to tears? No, I'm not talking about that "what am I doing with my life? why did I join this profession?" kind of crisis - real tears, because what you read touched you so profoundly? This is a terrific collection of essays about my profession and ways that it can be meaningful. All librarianship is radical in a way - the idea of sharing culture, providing common ground that welcomes everyone in the community, of being hospitable to many points of view - hell, the very idea of an institution existing for the public good is radical in our market fundamentalist society. But too often we forget to question the systems we support and dwell within. We forget that there are people who may not feel welcome in the library but who need information or enlightenment or comfort or even a warm place to hang out on a cold day - and when we forget about them (oh, our circ stats are fabulous, and we have book groups! we must be all right!) we're doing it wrong. When academic librarians teach how to shop for upscale sources to mash into a paper rather than the social nature of information and how to approach it critically we're not taking our work seriously. This is a book about librarians who take our work seriously and take it to the streets if that's where it has to be. It's terrific. It's inspiring. It's fun, too.

The part that made me cry? the chapter on programs for women in prison, especially when reading about a storybook project - women read a story to their child and it's recorded and sent with a copy of the book to the kid. Such a simple thing, and so radically kind. It makes me feel there is an unlmited number of ways we librarians could make the world a better place.

SUCH a good book.