"The Power of Knowledge, Objectified": Immaterial Labor, Cognitive Capitalism, and Academic Librarianship

This article analyzes current trends in academic librarianship from the perspective of Italian autonomist Marxism. With the rise of new technologies and the advent of a period variously called the "Fourth Industrial Revolution," "Industry 4.0," and "The Second Machine Age," academic librarianship is undergoing various changes in workflow, technology, and service provision. The body of thought that developed out of the Italian Marxist tradition provides ways of thinking through and understanding these changes by placing them within a larger dynamic of capitalist development and the restructuring of labor processes. After looking at changes to academic librarianship from the perspective of immaterial labor and cognitive capitalism, the paper offers ways that academic librarianship can think about the possibility of resistance to these changes.