There are other scholars who take a contrasting view of the library as an institution of repression against already repressed classes. According to Gaines (1970), no professional group of comparable size besides librarians had the ability to take the role as information consultant in their communities. Sinclair (1971) discussed the public library's shifting role to a "neighborhood information center" in larger cities as far back as the 1950s. Sinclair uses the example of the Luton Public Library that addressed questions such as "Where can I get my deaf aid replaced?" “How can I get a housekeeper job?" and "Where is there a home for an old man?" In the 1970s, this was becoming a more obvious need in major cities. Referral for services prior to the Internet occurred in these spaces, with librarians assisting with everything from paper-based welfare applications to referral to consumer protection agencies. According to Bishop, Tidline,
Shoemaker, & Salela (1999) the federal government responded to this need by providing funding for the library to act as a community information center. A series of educational programs
assisted professionals in gaining skills for these Information and Referral (I&R) services.
Practitioners and academics contributed articles, analyzed practice and gave public presentations. The goal of I & R services was to avoid agency "ping pong", a phenomenon where
with navigation of these hundreds of agencies and nonprofit organizations that delivered social services. Some librarians considered this I & R work a complete departure from typical library services. However, other librarians embraced this line of service, seeing a great need for it in their communities. Mary Lee Bundy, a librarian and educator, was at the forefront of this
movement. Bundy became involved in the University of Maryland’s urban information specialist program to use information in helping liberation struggles of oppressed people. Two of her books, Alternatives to Traditional Library Services: A Case Book and Helping People Take Control: The Public Library’s Mission in a Democracy had extensive resources listed for
librarians to use. She believed that it was critical that public tax supported institutions committed themselves to human justice for all people. She also strongly believed that when the rights of people are in jeopardy, there is no place for neutrality. This was a concept that some librarians held to strongly. Even at the time of these books, Bundy had concerns about the impact of mass media manipulation and the need for libraries to act as an information resource for citizen groups (Bundy, 1977).
With federal support, librarians became actively engaged in disseminating information to communities that needed it. In the 1970s, librarians modified the physical card catalog to include online public access. This information was eventually developed and standardized by the Library of Congress to make the information accessible via metadata and subject headings, and provided a foundation for the web-based sites we see today. According to Sinclair, these community information files were a resource completely developed for communities by librarians. These files held critical information about community resources that individuals would need to utilize, such as social service and government agencies (Sinclair, 1971).
The addition of community information files had many librarians thinking about other non-traditional services that could meet their community’s needs. Some communities added professional social workers to their staff in response to librarians’ anxiety of not having a formal human service skill set. Formal partnerships between librarians and representatives from outside programs was improving service to communities. Offering to give space to a human service agency was not enough. Instead, librarians formed partnerships with these agencies. Liaison employees, ideally ones with human service and professional library experience began to be hired (Sinclair, 1971).
Some initiatives that have occurred since the 1950s do not exactly fit the institution of domination and repression that many scholars like Harris (1972), Popowich (2007) and Black (2005) discuss. This becomes even more complicated when analyzing the library in the digital age and the concept of a virtual public sphere. Popowich wonders whether this new public sphere is just as representative of the social class dynamics as he believes the old print public sphere was. His concern is with e-commerce issues, but also with the same privileged individuals accessing the information. If one believes that the Internet is a public sphere, and the only place to receive free access is the public library, one might say this line of reasoning comes full circle. At the time of this particular article, there was really no way to know how the Internet would evolve. However, one could make a good argument that social media has provided a platform for the discursive will formation Popowich highlights when dismissing the library as public sphere.
Public libraries have experienced a more rapid metamorphosis in the slower to adopt rural areas with the transition of information services in the Internet age. Rural libraries that have not historically offered I&R services, are finding the struggle is two-fold: 1) They have a larger and more critical role as community information specialists than any time in their history and 2)
They need to be technology experts to assist individuals with this type of information access online. These will be especially critical points to examine when researching rural libraries that have been offering Internet connectivity and assistance with community information tasks only recently.