Academic Capitalism and the Defunding of Academic Libraries

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Abstract

This conceptual paper examines the impacts of academic capitalism on academic libraries in terms of diminished access to scholarly literature, increased workloads for librarians, and neglect of library spaces. Themes from the literature on academic capitalism are used to explore avenues for empowering libraries to advance the public good. Themes addressed include pressure to lower instruction related costs at universities, the role of academic libraries in the knowledge economy, a shift away from scholarly control of academia to administrative control, the hierarchy of academic fields imposed by academic capitalism, and the positioning of students as consumers rather than learners.

Authors

• Sarah Rose Fitzgerald, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

• Annie Sollinger, University of Massachusetts - Amherst