A "New Deal" for Libraries in the Digital Age?

THIS ARTICLE MAINTAINS THAT THE CHALLENGE to the American public library is not information technology but the ideology of information technology. This ideology is a coalescence of technological determinism, free market values, and neo-conservative politics that advocates radical government deregulation and the withdrawal of support for public services. In the face of this challenge, the article proposes a role for libraries in a learning economy and for librarians as political activists in the arena of telecommunications public policy.