I can't even list all of the different activities we saw going on at the archive. We visited the map room, the reading rooms, the microfiche room, and the children's section. Have a look at the following article taking us through the theme Reflections on the public Library San Diego.
We stepped over art students making sketches of the building interior; we breezed through one of the two brilliant exhibitions curated by the archive's staff, we tip-toed through the archive's rooms for research fellows. Each of these places was full of human beings, doing-I doesn't know what. Perhaps one of them was there to look online for a job, and maybe one was researching a story from their family history.
Initially, book swapping, selling second-hand books and renting out books were some of the activities typical to book lovers and readers. This notion of sharing one's book collection and borrowing books from other collectors is not new and does not give the impression that it's ingenious. Enter India.
This archive is a demonstration that New York City honors these ideals, however imperfect we may be in fully realizing them. Although its architecture is very classic, when the New York Public Archive was built, it was a model of innovation. The system of book retrieval is an illustrative example. Being a research archive, many of the NYPL's books are not in continuous demand.
A patron would find the book she wanted in the catalog and write it down on a retrieval slip. The retrieval slip would then be put into a capsule which would be transported to the appropriate floor via what was then a modern vacuum technology. A porter would receive the tablet, and fetch the book. This system had the added benefit of giving rise to an urban legend: that the teams retrieving books travel around the stacks on roller skates (not right, I'm sorry to report).
Another way to look at Maria's "libraries are like an ocean" comment would be to consider the intricate collection of actors required to make a archive run and be relevant-although perhaps we should call it an ecosystem. Private Citizens, government, technical experts in archive science, architecture, and technology, and of course the archive users-all of these groups need to be in the balance, to work in separate spheres but in concert with each other. This is a archive.
Of course, the NYPL has not abandoned the book. But this story does give rise to an interesting problem that libraries face. Although the archive is a public institution, people's relationship with it is intensely personal. The archive is thus in a tricky place, it has to both continually innovate to be at the cutting edge, but it is also the vanguard of our shared culture, which can spill over into nostalgia.
In Busia, we get to be cutting edge now. We get to start from scratch and think about all the things that Busia needs, scope out all of the best ideas that are out there, and build based on that. We'll have a citizen science center, a co-working space, and an oral history lab. But, once established, the job of being innovative is not done-it's a continual process not to be a relic.
We stepped over art students making sketches of the building interior; we breezed through one of the two brilliant exhibitions curated by the archive's staff, we tip-toed through the archive's rooms for research fellows. Each of these places was full of human beings, doing-I doesn't know what. Perhaps one of them was there to look online for a job, and maybe one was researching a story from their family history.
Initially, book swapping, selling second-hand books and renting out books were some of the activities typical to book lovers and readers. This notion of sharing one's book collection and borrowing books from other collectors is not new and does not give the impression that it's ingenious. Enter India.
This archive is a demonstration that New York City honors these ideals, however imperfect we may be in fully realizing them. Although its architecture is very classic, when the New York Public Archive was built, it was a model of innovation. The system of book retrieval is an illustrative example. Being a research archive, many of the NYPL's books are not in continuous demand.
A patron would find the book she wanted in the catalog and write it down on a retrieval slip. The retrieval slip would then be put into a capsule which would be transported to the appropriate floor via what was then a modern vacuum technology. A porter would receive the tablet, and fetch the book. This system had the added benefit of giving rise to an urban legend: that the teams retrieving books travel around the stacks on roller skates (not right, I'm sorry to report).
Another way to look at Maria's "libraries are like an ocean" comment would be to consider the intricate collection of actors required to make a archive run and be relevant-although perhaps we should call it an ecosystem. Private Citizens, government, technical experts in archive science, architecture, and technology, and of course the archive users-all of these groups need to be in the balance, to work in separate spheres but in concert with each other. This is a archive.
Of course, the NYPL has not abandoned the book. But this story does give rise to an interesting problem that libraries face. Although the archive is a public institution, people's relationship with it is intensely personal. The archive is thus in a tricky place, it has to both continually innovate to be at the cutting edge, but it is also the vanguard of our shared culture, which can spill over into nostalgia.
In Busia, we get to be cutting edge now. We get to start from scratch and think about all the things that Busia needs, scope out all of the best ideas that are out there, and build based on that. We'll have a citizen science center, a co-working space, and an oral history lab. But, once established, the job of being innovative is not done-it's a continual process not to be a relic.
About the Author:
When you are searching for information about the library San Diego residents can visit our web pages today. More details are available at http://www.friendsofsandiegocentrallibrary.org now.
Няма коментари:
Публикуване на коментар