User:Simon/bootleg library
the bootleg library
The bootleg library is a particular, situated social infrastructure. It operates from the understanding that the library is a collection; a collection of the texts contained within it, and the readers collected around them. There is a reciprocal, self-reflexive relationship between the texts and the readers. A bootleg is a homage, an unauthorised copy of a source publication; and bootlegging a strategy by which texts acquire diversity, resisting singularity and representing readers.
instances
the physical bootleg library
The physical bootleg library is a collection of bootlegged books, contained within a repurposed champagne crate. Similar to a "mini-bieb", which are public library boxes installed in Dutch neighbourhoods, books within the physical library are not catalogued, and it is open for anyone to borrow, read and annotate them, on the one condition that they are returned. The physical library is also mobile, and portable, travelling to different bootleg library sessions.
Closed, in the XPUB studio where it usually is located
Open, with books inside
the digital bootleg library
The digital bootleg library runs on the open-source software calibre-web from a Raspberry Pi4. It is connected to the XPUB HUB, and uses tinc, software which allows it to be connected to the network remotely. The digital library is available at the following URL:
https://hub.xpub.nl/bootleglibrary
Anyone who knows the HTTP login can use the default guest account to upload/download books and edit metadata. Users with a registered account can create and edit public and private shelves, which are ways to collectively, or individually organise the collection.
All registered users are given admin privileges - this allows them to register new users.
The Raspberry Pi4 that the digital library runs on
Screenshot of the web interface for the digital bootleg library
activities
There are three main activities of the bootleg library;
1) bootlegging, republishing and distributing printed books
Each book is printed and bound in an edition of one. Bootlegging happens on a case-by-case basis; by myself, for others, and with others, depending on individual demands. These bootlegged books are contained in the physical bootleg library.
2) conducting bootleg library sessions in various locations
bootleg library sessions are moments for readers to collect together around texts. Each session is loosely organised, and readers are invited to stay as long as they like. Sessions are open to everyone, and the conversation often drifts. What is important is the texts that are produced in these sessions (see below).
3) producing texts
This happens as the result of both the first two activities. Texts are bootlegged, printed and bound. Texts are written on index cards, in collaborative writing environments such as Etherpad, in the metadata of the digital library when users are registered and books are uploaded. Texts are produced in the various conversations that happen in each bootleg library session, which happens in different places, with different publics. The meaning of "text" is broad; not just a linear sequence of written letters and spaces, but also a weaving together of oral utterances. In this sense, "text" is close to its etymological root, textus, or "cloth".
tasks of the contingent librarian
Contained within a box is a set of A6-sized index cards. Each card lists the tasks performed on the site of contingencies, the bootleg library. The cards employ a strategy of a librarian’s task on one side, and images and references on the obverse. The cards are a thesis, and also part of a praxis; they are used in bootleg library sessions, and reflections from these sessions become part of the index.
The box, front
The box, back
Index card: Introduction, side a
Index card: Introduction, side b
Index card: #bootlegging, side a
Index card: #bootlegging, side b
