How Do We Library That?: Difference between revisions

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Public libraries are more than just access points to knowledge. They are busy sites of social activities such as reading together, annotating, organising and structuring. These libraries are slowly dying, threatened by a business logic that sees libraries as just containers for files and books. But as public libraries are replaced by [https://www.bibliotheca.com/ self-service software] and paywalls, shadow and [https://placesjournal.org/article/fugitive-libraries/?cn-reloaded=1 fugitive libraries] appear in their wake, founded upon values of community, cultural literacy and open access.
Public libraries are more than just access points to knowledge. They are busy sites of social activities such as reading together, annotating, organising and structuring. These libraries are slowly dying, threatened by a business logic that sees libraries as just containers for files and books. But as public libraries are replaced by [https://www.bibliotheca.com/ self-service software] and paywalls, shadow and [https://placesjournal.org/article/fugitive-libraries/?cn-reloaded=1 fugitive libraries] appear in their wake, founded upon values of [https://pls.simonbrowne.biz/index.php?title=Jumbie_Library local community], [https://keleketla.org/ cultural literacy] and open access.


What might be called a library, a book or a text has radically changed in the post-digital age. A library could be; an accumulated stack of printed books, a modular collection of software packages, a method of distributing e-books, a writing machine. New texts can emerge from previous sources
What might be called a library, a book or a text has radically changed in the post-digital age. A library could be; an accumulated stack of printed books, a modular collection of software packages, a method of distributing e-books, a writing machine. New texts can emerge from previous sources

Revision as of 12:11, 16 September 2022

Context

Libraries are complex social infrastructures. It's difficult to describe them without using the plural "libraries", or singular "a library/the library"; as if they were all the same. Universalisms won't help in understanding what is particular about libraries and collections of texts, or their value to their readers.


Public libraries are more than just access points to knowledge. They are busy sites of social activities such as reading together, annotating, organising and structuring. These libraries are slowly dying, threatened by a business logic that sees libraries as just containers for files and books. But as public libraries are replaced by self-service software and paywalls, shadow and fugitive libraries appear in their wake, founded upon values of local community, cultural literacy and open access.

What might be called a library, a book or a text has radically changed in the post-digital age. A library could be; an accumulated stack of printed books, a modular collection of software packages, a method of distributing e-books, a writing machine. New texts can emerge from previous sources

Special Issue 19

In this Special Issue, we will depart by considering the word "library" as a verb; a set of actions that sustains the production, collection and distribution of texts. We will question indexical attitudes that lean towards universalisms and search for proposals for how we "library" our particular collection.

How are texts made new? How to make a collection understandable to others? What are the access points to the collection, and how do readers and writers cross paths?

We will attempt to answer these questions through experiments while asking ourselves: How do we library that? Rather than looking only at what a library stores, we will also think about what it produces. Library as; writing machine, network of accumulated practices and distribution, site of cultural literacy and learning, social space of text.

Schedule

One: Tasks of the Contingent Librarian

Summary: Contingent librarianship - an ever-growing set of actions

Monday, September 19th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Introduction to the Special Issue (with Simon)

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To introduce ourselves we will use cards from Tasks of the Contingent Librarian:

  • 52 cards on the table (e.g. bootlegging, indexing, scanning, reading, technologising the word, &c)
  • Choose a card that matches your curiosities and/or interests
  • Exchange a card with someone else, describing how you relate to the card
  • Exchange a card, relate that relation to someone else
  • Make a new card, what information does it need?

Tuesday, September 20th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday September 21st, 2022

11:00-17:00 Introduction to Reading, Writing and Research Methodologies with Steve

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Two: Print Screen

Summary: Plain text & annotation, from markup to markdown

Monday, September 26th, 2022

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Tuesday, September 27th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday September 28th, 2022

11:00-17:00 Methods with Steve

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Three: Text, TBC

Summary: Dimensions of text - editorial, technical, social

Monday, October 3rd, 2022

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Tuesday, October 4th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday October 5th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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Four: Scribes Getting Personal ☞

Summary: different ways to indicate/index/point to things

Monday, October 10th, 2022

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Tuesday, October 11th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday October 12th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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Five: Do e-books dream of electronic spreadsheets?

Summary: Logics of databases

Monday, October 17th, 2022

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Tuesday, October 18th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday October 19th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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🍁🍁🍁

Autumn Vacation

Six: Binding Along the Spine

Summary: Digital and analog binding

Monday, October 31st, 2022

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Tuesday, November 1st, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday November 2nd, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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Seven: A Textile, A Framework

Summary: Texts woven together

Monday, November 7th, 2022

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Tuesday, November 8th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday November 9th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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Eight: Paper Machines

Summary: Analog interfaces for digital collections

Monday, November 14th, 2022

References:

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Tuesday, November 15th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday November 16th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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Nine

Monday, November 21st, 2022

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Tuesday, November 22nd, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday November 23rd, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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Ten

Monday, November 28th, 2022

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Tuesday, November 29th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday November 30th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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Eleven

Monday, December 5th, 2022

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Tuesday, December 6th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday December 7th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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Twelve

Monday, December 12th, 2022

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Tuesday, December 13th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Prototyping with Manetta & Joseph

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Wednesday December 14th, 2022

11:00-17:30 Methods with Steve

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