The Response of Socially Aware Librarians to National Crisis: A Case Study of Selected Electronic Mail from the Social Responsibilities Round Table

At the time of the attacks on September 11, 2001, little known information was available to the public. It was an event that was without precedent and led to a scrambling for clear and known information from trusted figures and institutions. It is the intention of this paper to examine the impact that September 11 had on the professional discussions of librarians. The paper asks, "Have the post-September 11 exigencies brought the practice of librarianship into tension with the personal convictions of librarians?" Working on the investigator's assumption that socially aware librarians would be more vocal and reflective on the issues raised during a national crisis, this paper presents a case study of post September 11 comments posted to the Social Responsibilities Round Table Action Council - Listserv (SRRTAC-L). This paper offers a glimpse of how librarians respond to national crisis and the tensions that they face in their profession