Where the Stuff Goes

I am easily overwhelmed by huge libraries, but I love to peruse them. Like Machiavelli and Alberto Manguel, I like to sit amongst books. I even tried sleeping with them when I was younger, thinking it would help me absorb the information more quickly. In these readings I was interested in how the digital world intersects with the physical world both logistically and experientially.

In Warburg’s library, the organization of the books was the most important element. This “catalogue of problems” gave a unique insight into the actual information that people were seeking. The intimate journey to the information was just as important as the information itself. The Prelingers carried on this tradition of a journey when they discussed browsing and all the various associations that happen when one is in the physical space of books. Putting their collection online doesn’t quite offer the same experience, although I liked some of the ideas they had to make the online browsing experience more like the in-person experience.

Moving from there to getting a better sense of how some of America’s biggest libraries store and lend out their materials made me feel as though we went from someone’s living room to a warehouse. Gone is that intimacy, but the information is more readily available. I wonder how much the role of efficiency of preservation and the ease of online collections moves us from an intimate experience of sitting amongst our books. I wonder what “free photography” does to the collection of photography. Do things become more accessible and less sacred? Or are they more readily available so we can appreciate them more?

One Reply

  • Fantastic, Kristin! I’m glad that you’re questioning the complex relationships between intimacy, aura, and accessibility. These issues of epistemological experience – and how the physical space of a collection cultivates that experience — seem to be of interest to several of your classmates, too. I’m sure we’ll address these concerns in our class discussion today

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