In 1967, the University of Maryland’s School of Library and Information Services created a public library in Prince George’s County, Maryland, named the High John Experiment, to give Librarianship and Information Science students experience serving disadvantaged communities and to discover new methods to better serve these communities. From the creation of High John to the present day, University of Maryland publications and unaffiliated works credit High John as a groundbreaking experiment that propelled interests in diversity and inclusion in public libraries. High John’s creators published a 73 paged report for the United States’ Office of Education, accompanied by published articles, that confirms a violation of ethics toward the community High John served. The community was not involved in the implementation or planning of the library and many of the services and materials the library offered were based on prejudiced assumptions instead of community input or research. Although High John garnered supporters, the validity and ethicality behind High John’s intent and methods were called into question during the experiment. The controversy led to debates within the field that resulted in conversations about Librarianship and Information Science pedagogy and appropriate methods in outreach and community engagement for disadvantaged communities. Now that the passionately fueled debates on High John have ceased, the experiment is a distant memory. Although this experiment led to debates about diversity, inclusion, and equity in information access within the United States, this experiment is relevant to information readers on a global scale. Because Librarianship and Information Science has a history rooted in elitism and oppression worldwide, High John warrants further exposure and examination from a diverse pool of contemporary perspectives. Through the application of modern community outreach and engagement practices, this article builds on a critical historical analysis of the experiment and argues High John failed in its mission and violated the community’s trust that it purported to serve.

1967年，马里兰大学图书馆与信息服务学院在马里兰州乔治王子县创建了一个公共图书馆，命名为“高约翰实验”，目的是让图书馆学和信息科学专业的学生有为弱势群体服务的经验，并探索更好地为弱势群体服务的新方法社区。从High John的创立到今天，马里兰大学的出版物和非附属著作都将High John视为具有开创性的实验，激发了人们对公共图书馆的多样性和包容性的兴趣。High John的创作者为美国教育局发布了73页的报告，并附有发表的文章，证实了High John服务的社区违反了道德规范。社区没有参与图书馆的实施或计划，图书馆提供的许多服务和材料都是基于偏见的假设，而不是社区的投入或研究。尽管High John获得了支持者的支持，但在实验过程中质疑了High John的意图和方法背后的有效性和道德性。争议引发了现场辩论，引发了有关图书馆学和信息科学教学法以及针对弱势群体的外展和社区参与的适当方法的对话。既然关于高级约翰的激烈辩论已经停止，这个实验已经成为遥远的记忆。尽管该实验引发了关于美国范围内信息访问的多样性，包容性和公平性的辩论，此实验与全球范围内的信息阅读器有关。由于图书馆学和信息科学的历史源于全球的精英主义和压迫，因此高约翰（John）需要从不同的当代视角进行进一步的了解和检验。通过应用现代社区外展活动和参与活动，本文基于对该实验的重要历史分析，并提出高级约翰未能完成其任务，并侵犯了其所服务的社区信任。