Opportunity for Leadership: Full and Informed Participation

(Paperback)

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Description

An informed citizenry, capable of informed participation, is one of the principles on which U.S. democracy is based, its premise represented in Constitutional principles of intellectual freedom. To what extent does participation in the political process and civic engagement require access to information representing various viewpoints and perspectives And in turn, how do issues of race, ethnicity and culture, language, economic disparity, and geographic isolation limit such access Mark Winston offers a cross section of individual, collective, and organizational effortsfrom both ends of the political spectrumto control information access in the hopes of protecting society from itself. Beginning with Brown v. Board of Education, he considers the roleplayed by equality of educational opportunity and agencies such as the library as essential influences on public discourse and sound decision-making.

Reviews

Winston opens his book by examining a pivotal case in America's history: Brown vs. Board of Education. He explains the arguments waged both for and against integration and quotes extensively from the Supreme Court's final decision. By illustrating his thesis with this trial, Winston presents a powerful argument that 'access to [quality] education is necessary for all, in contribution to and participation in society' (7) simply because informed participation is always more desirable than the alternative. * Reference & User Services Quarterly *
Filled with references and resources, the work is a scholarly piece that might assist one doing research on access to information and education. . . * ARBA *

Author Bio

Mark Winston, associate professor in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill since 2006, will become assistant chancellor and director of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, effective September 1. Prior to his UNC position, Winston taught for seven years at the Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Library Studies on the New Brunswick campus. Winston succeeds Lynn Mullins, who retired after 20 years as Dana Library director.