During this arctic week in the Midwest, I am working on a keynote
for the JSEA Librarians conference.
My husband lent a helping hand to the process by pointing me in the
direction of communication theory of "discourse of space"… we’re a lively
pair ya know. This led to more topics, which
eventually led me to the urban planning scholarship of socio-spatial
transformation and the research of Ole Jensen in Denmark.
Jensen argues any planning process (in my case redesigning a 1980's library) as a consideration of the “relationship between the material
practices and the symbolic meaning that social agents attach to their spatial
environments…” For me, this means that the tension between material practices (the day to day doings of librarianship) and the symbolism we attach (the sacred cows of librarianship) effects how we arrange our physical environments. The catch in bringing library services (particularly K-12
school media services) into the 21st century can partially be
attributed to how many of
us still attach our own experiences to the school library – sitting and reading
a book in a quiet, safe place. The library was a repository for books and other print (or at least tangibly physical) items where one went to sit quietly and absorb knowledge.
 |
| UC Riverside Library http://newsroom.ucr.edu/1711 |
Diana Eidson recently published an article entitled “The Celsus
Library at Ephesus: Spatial Rhetoric, Literacy and Hegemony in the Eastern
Roman Empire.” In the article, she looks
at how the Celsus Library (probably one of the most famous images of a library
out there) was not just a repository of material - it was a place where the
walls told a story (allegorical carvings tell the stories of Greek and Roman
convergence), people met to share experiences and hear stories, communal
decision making took place. It would
have been a lively place. In a
population where only 10% were literate, the physical building spoke to patrons
and passersby. Sadly, the Dark Ages, a
bit of plague and some circling of the wagons shifted the focus of libraries to
silent repositories only for the elite.
2014 holds so many ways we can get back to the library as center of
community where even the building can speak to passersby!
Libraries still have material practices in the 21st
century. Some look much like they have
for centuries: books, magazines, maps, artwork and newspapers. Some are a little more recent: instruction on
citation practices, research strategies and information retrieval. A quiet place of self-reflection in an
over-stimulating school environment is needed… but do we adults let our own
symbolism influence how the space functions for a young visitor? Just because we had wood tables nestled in
stacks of books, is that what our students need today?
Face it, we need to let go of our symbolic meanings of what
defines a library. Embrace the innovations,
which allow us to move beyond walls, continents and even time (have you seen
the awesome collaboration between the Bodleian
Libraries and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vatincana?). Open spaces for story telling, collaborative
assignments and communal discourse.
 |
| Seattle Library Main Branch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Central_Library |
And what the heck, let the walls or floors tell stories again.
 |
| Story Surfer at Aarhus Library, Denmark http://www.flickr.com/photos/aakb/3005626860/ |
Libraries can be vibrant spaces of experience. In 2014, reflect on where your attachments to
symbolic meaning are hampering progress.
Reflect on material practices that really can be let go (there is no
need to keep a year’s worth of paper magazines these days). And let’s move forward…
Update 2/5/2014... Here's the slideshow from the presentation. The title is what happens when my husband and I get a little silly during snowstorms - but it's how we roll...
Works Cited:
Eidson, Diana. “The Celsus Library at Ephasus: Spatial Rhetoric, Literacy and Hegemony in the Eastern Roman Empire.” Advances in the History of Rhetoric (2013) Vol 16, Issue 2.
Jensen, Ole. Discourse Analysis and Sociospatial Transformation Processes. School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Global Urban Research Unity. Electronc Working Paper 28. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/guru/assets/documents/ewp28.pdf
Update 2/5/2014... Here's the slideshow from the presentation. The title is what happens when my husband and I get a little silly during snowstorms - but it's how we roll...
 |
| Click image to link to SlideShare Upload |
Works Cited:
Eidson, Diana. “The Celsus Library at Ephasus: Spatial Rhetoric, Literacy and Hegemony in the Eastern Roman Empire.” Advances in the History of Rhetoric (2013) Vol 16, Issue 2.
Jensen, Ole. Discourse Analysis and Sociospatial Transformation Processes. School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Global Urban Research Unity. Electronc Working Paper 28. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/guru/assets/documents/ewp28.pdf
, Diana. “The Celsus Librarys: Spatial Rhetoric, Literacy and
Hegemony in the Eas
