From Hyperallergic:
Public libraries are experiencing a surge in use that few could have predicted even a decade ago. This renaissance has renewed interest in the library as a space for access to books, to technology, and to art. But libraries are no longer solely filled with books. Many are shifting to become multi-use and more digitally driven spaces. Yet as libraries create access to a digital future, the books that have traditionally inhabited them are being displaced at an alarming rate. This leaves many asking: Does acceptance of digital resources mean that the books must go? And what is at stake when artists, art historians, students, and the public can no longer engage in the act of browsing the stacks as part of the process of creating and researching art?
While the philosophical debate over what a library should be rages across the country and beyond, some institutions are shifting from philosophy to action, removing books to make way for other initiatives. At the University of Texas at Austin, around 75,000 fine arts books, journals, and other materials have already been moved by the College of Fine Arts and the University of Texas Libraries, as Hyperallergic reported in December. Many of the removed materials now reside in an off-site location near UT’s J.J. Pickle Research Campus or the Texas A&M joint library storage facility.
At many libraries, the prime real estate occupied by books is being requisitioned to make way for new digital humanities initiatives like virtual reality experiences or “Makerspaces” cordoned off for 3D printing. In the case of UT-Austin’s Fine Arts Library, books and other analog materials were removed to accommodate a new space called The Foundry. As the mission page for the collaborative space notes, this is a joint initiative of the University of Texas Libraries and the College of Fine Arts meant to be available to all UT students, faculty, and staff. Yet the success of such 3D printing labs is often precarious and dubious. As many librarians and digital humanists have pointed out, installing a Makerspace in your library is not a panacea.
Link to the rest at Hyperallergic and thanks to Dave for the tip.
My county and state libraries have “fine arts” books.
First, you have to know that the books exist. Then you have to come up with a specific title. Then, you have to make an appointment and travel to wherever they’re stored. Then you’re only allowed to see them for a short period of time, while under supervision. No, you can’t check them out and take them home, you dirtbag!
Funny, the public doesn’t seem to make use of those books much…
The Disappearance of Books Threatens to show that there are other ways of getting a story across.
I imagine at least part of the reason why these books and other print materials are being removed or relocated is because they aren’t being used as much as they were in the past.
And what is at stake when artists, art historians, students, and the public can no longer engage in the act of browsing the stacks as part of the process of creating and researching art?
Nothing.
But I do love huffing and puffing my way up and down the cramped stairways in my local university’s stacks. It’s both claustrophobic and weirdly exhilarating.