Broker of Information, the "Nation's Most Important Commodity": The Library of Congress in the Neoliberal Era

This article examines the Library of Congress in the context of the neoliberal information economy in order to apprehend the limits to the Library's support of democratic principles and participation. Situating the Library of Congress within Foucauldian approaches to studying public institutions while building upon them, the article provides a broad overview of Library of Congress policies and actions since 1985 that signal a neoliberal turn. It also offers an analysis of some of the reports on knowledge organization issued and commissioned by the Library. The article calls for further critical analysis of the Library of Congress's policies and strategies.