A new series of exhibits at the Goethe Institute in New York City called “The End(s) of the Library.” David Horvitz will be producing an exhibit on the problems of DRM called “How can a digital be gift?” and Julieta Aranda, Fia Backström, and R. Lyon will be exploring “the way …
Yes, instead of thinking about the death of libraries these days (and the universalization of retail), in McAllen, TX, a library replaced Wal-Mart. It turns out it is extremely beautiful. While this might be a pretty sensational example of how libraries aren’t dying off, I think it is an important …
Some visually piquant photographs of imaginary libraries from Jean François Rauzier. They’re an interesting combination of the architectural impossibilities of Piranesi mixed with the large scales of iterative forms of Andreas Gursky. Above all, there is a bookish logic at work here with the conjunction of the perspectivally flat with …
This is my new watchword for the open access debate as it concerns academic publishing. A new spot on “On the Media” addresses the outrageous costs of academic journals, largely in the sciences. The comments by the representative for Elsevier are disturbingly demonic, not to mention insulting to people who …
It might not strike you as the most dramatic place to set a movie, but Art Space in New Haven is showing a film festival dedicated to movies that feature libraries, including Fahrenheit 451, Soylent Green (yes!), and classics like Puss in Books (oh my).
The President of SSHRC, historian Chad Gaffield, gave a talk last night at McGill about the role of digital humanities in changing the nature of scholarship. It was a talk probably more appropriate to funders and politicians but one of the recurring themes was the idea of “access.” It is …
As if it wasn’t enough to found a field, Robert Darnton might just be on the verge of creating a national digital public library. His latest update in the NY Review indicates that he is well on his way to guiding a digital library into existence. Because it will be …
I have assumed the co-editorship of Seminar, the journal for Canadian and Australasian German Studies. We’re in transition right now, but I’ve been thinking a lot about questions of open access and the rising cost of academic journals. The Times recently reported on the issue, but of course it’s nothing …
A really thoughtful piece at The Desk Set about what it means to be a librarian today. The author addresses the myth of the universality of digital literacy, just how much time she spends teaching people how to use computers. This results in a lot of inner personal conflict for …
An exquisite exhibit by Laurie Rubin at Afterimage on images of her books. When Rubin discusses her collecting habits she remarks that what matters to her is often the fact that her books belonged to other people. “My collection,” she writes, includes other people’s diaries, scrapbooks, sketchbooks, and photo albums. …