Libraries in the age of search engines and information retrieval

Aby Warburg’s “law of the good neighbor” really stresses on the relations between books, so much so that arranging books in their appropriate spaces no longer becomes a mere simple case of categorizing their content/subject-matter, but the lines of potential connections and associations between a constellation of books. I feel like it is this potential of charting (perhaps hitherto unnoticed) connections between books/things that similarly drives the Prelinger Library. Particularly, both Rick and Megan Prelinger spoke of the need to sustain a browsing experience in the library that should not be reduced to a simple query-based search and information retrieval.

The latter seems instead to be increasingly the mode of the library experience: query-based search and information retrieval. Watching the Cold Storage video, I can’t help but feel that while the need for consolidated offsite storage facilities does have its logistical conveniences (and may afford librarians more time to do their cultural programming), if libraries continue adding more and more materials to their collection, they are really going to end up having to depend on these offsite storage facilities. When that happens, I worry if this may also end up sealing the fate of the library experience as purely a process of information retrieval. If that should happen, would the library then be reduced essentially to a platform and search engine?

Off topic, but there’s also a great podcast from Radiolab on the logistics of Amazon and other Internet retail systems. I highly recommend it!

One Reply

  • Thanks, Kenneth! You’ve identified a key dynamic, which I hope we’ll discuss in class: the contrast btw logistical / storage systems that emphasize search and retrieval, and those that allow for browsing and serendipity. Could we devise hybrid physical/virtual systems that allow for both modes of engagement?

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