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What Is New Librarianship?
New Librarianship is a framework for the work of librarians, set out by R. David Lankes in The Atlas of New Librarianship (MIT Press and the Association of College and Research Libraries, 2011). It starts from one idea: knowledge is created through conversation, so librarians act as facilitators of the conversations in their communities rather than only as keepers of collections. It sits within library science and draws on questions also studied in information science.
The Mission Statement
Lankes summarizes the framework in a single mission statement: “The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities.” He describes the approach as favoring communities and knowledge over collections and buildings, and as being about the “why” of libraries and librarianship over the “how.”
How the Framework Works
The Atlas recasts librarianship around the concept that knowledge is created through conversation. New librarians approach their work as facilitators of conversation, and they seek to enrich, capture, store and disseminate the conversations of their communities. The Atlas organizes this around the means of facilitating conversation: access, knowledge, environment and motivation. The Atlas is written as both theory and practice: its author describes it as a tool that serves as textbook, conversation guide and call to action.
Comparison With a Collection-Centered View
| Question | Collection-centered view | New Librarianship view |
|---|---|---|
| What is the library for? | Holding and organizing materials | Improving society by facilitating knowledge creation in the community |
| What is the librarian’s role? | Keeper of collections | Facilitator of community conversation |
| What comes first? | Collections and buildings | Communities and knowledge |
The left column is a simplified contrast for explanation, not a quotation from the Atlas.
What Is the Journal of New Librarianship?
The Journal of New Librarianship (ISSN 2471-3880) is a journal published by the University of Colorado at Boulder, according to the Crossref registry, which lists 321 registered DOIs for it, with the earliest registered in 2016. It is the scholarly venue most closely tied to the name, and readers searching for the “journal of new librarianship” will find its articles through that registry and the journal’s own site.
Where It Connects to Research Practice
Research libraries and data professionals often work in the same territory of supporting community knowledge work. For one related role, see our guide to data stewardship and the data curator role. For journals and metrics that librarians commonly discuss, see Library Quarterly, the Journal of Information Science and CiteScore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who created New Librarianship?
R. David Lankes set out the framework in The Atlas of New Librarianship (MIT Press and ACRL, 2011).
What is the mission of librarians in New Librarianship?
“The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities.”
What does knowledge creation through conversation mean?
In the Atlas, knowledge is created through conversation, and librarians work to enrich, capture, store and disseminate the conversations of their communities.
What is the Journal of New Librarianship?
A journal with ISSN 2471-3880 published by the University of Colorado at Boulder, per the Crossref registry.
Sources
All links checked 2026-11-07.
- Lankes, R. David. The Atlas of New Librarianship. MIT Press and Association of College and Research Libraries, 2011. Companion site: https://davidlankes.org/new-librarianship/
- About the Atlas: https://davidlankes.org/about/
- Crossref registry record for the Journal of New Librarianship: https://api.crossref.org/journals/2471-3880
