This week’s Monday Muse is about the Darien Statements.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Libraries Interact’s Kathryn Greenhill is one of the authors of the Darien Statements. Libraries Interact has no official spokespeople, so it’s not for me or anyone else to say that we collectively endorse it or not, but it’s definitely met our criteria as a topical issue that’s worth discussing.

Rather than just asking for yays or nays about the Darien Statements, I’m interested in some different approaches.

The Darien Statements and the reaction to it in the blogosphere raises broader questions about the role of statements in the profession. After all, there are the Five Laws of Library Science by Ranganathan, as well as statements by bodies such as IFLA, ALIA and the ALA – to give just one sample from just three organisations. Do these statements make any difference for libraries or librarians? Does anyone have any anecdotes of examples? Or is it better to assess these statements by the degree to which they inspire us or provoke conversation?

Considering the critiques and rewrites of the Darien Statements, is it appropriate for something like this to be wikified?

Do any parts of the Darien Statements help explain why you do what you do as a librarian? Are there any parts of the Darien Statements which you find problematic or not really applicable to your own circumstances?