Description
Book SynopsisLibraries, as a component of cultural space, are ubiquitous to almost every society during almost every time period. However, as places of cultural and symbolic and intellectual meaning, they have varied greatly. To capture both aspects, this collection of 14 original papers covers library spaces old and new, real and imagined, large and small, public and private. Contributions range from a consideration of the Garrison library in the British Empire, to the Carnegie library as a social institution, to the imagined library in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The result is a fascinating look at the library as a physical, social, and intellectual place within the hearts and minds of its clientele and the public at large.
Trade Review"There is something here for most readers. Those with an interest in historic libraries, library architecture and furnishings, libraries as community centers, and libraries as an idea will find something both enjoyable and enlightening in this collection." -
Public Libraries"
The Library as Place would be a fitting addition to a library system's professional collection or an academic library." -
American Reference Books Annual"
Library as Place: History, Community, and Culture features 14 papers that examine the library as a physical, social, and intellectual space. This is an eclectic collection, ranging from a history of the establishment of far-flung military libraries during the heyday of the British Empire (to instill sober, regular, and moral habits among the troops) to an analysis of the function of the Sunnydale High School library in
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's thought-provoking--the next time I visit my local library, I'll go with a perspective beyond just browsing the new-fiction shelves." -
American Libraries"A well-chosen compilation of library scholarship; as always with such things some pieces are far more interesting than others, but for those whose interests run to deep discussions of library philosophy, this book's for you." -
PhiloBiblos (blog)"In this collection of 14 original papers contributors analyze the cultural, symbolic and intellectual meanings of library spaces of all sorts, ages, compositions and aspirations. Papers cover libraries of the past, including the military libraries of the British Empire, the private libraries of the early nineteenth century, and the Carnegie libraries; libraries as places of communal experience, as in a black community before civil rights, for women seeking public lives, for sexual minorities or for those seeking an information community; as places of learning and scholarship as serendipitous space for scholars and goads for undergraduates; and as elements of culture as places of pleasure or imagination, as in the hellish library of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer." -
Reference & Research Book NewsTable of ContentsForeword
by Wayne A. Wiegand and John Carlo Bertot Introduction 1. Space, Place, and Libraries: An Introduction
Gloria J. Leckie and John E. Buschman Section I: The Library's Place in the Past 2. Beneficial Spaces: The Rise of Military Libraries in the British Empire
Ronald Tetreault 3. Libraries in Public before the Age of Public Libraries: Interpreting the Furnishings and Design of Athenaeums and Other "Social Libraries," 1800–1860
Adam Arenson 4. A Grand Old Sandstone Lady: Vancouver's Carnegie Library
Ann Curry Section II: Libraries as Places of Community 5. The Fruit and Root of the Community: The Greensboro Carnegie Negro Library, 1904–1964
Julia A. Hersberger, Lou Sua, and Adam L. Murray 6. Locating the Library as Place among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Patrons
Paulette Rothbauer 7. Behind the Program-Room Door: The Creation of Parochial and Private Women's Realms in a Canadian Public Library
Pamela J. McKenzie, Elena M. Prigoda, Kirsten Clement, and Lynne (E.F.) McKechnie 8. Seattle Public Library as Place: Reconceptualizing Space, Community, and Information at the Central Library
Karen E. Fisher, Matthew L. Saxton, Phillip M. Edwards, and Jens-Erik Mai Section III: Research Libraries as Places of Learning and Scholarship 9. Stimulating Space, Serendipitous Space: Library as Place in the Life of the Scholar
Karen Antell and Debra Engel 10. Setting the Stage for Undergraduates' Information Behaviors: Faculty and Librarians' Perspectives on Academic Space
Lisa M. Given 11. The Research Library as Place: On the Essential Importance of Collections of Books Shelved in Subject-Classified Arrangements
Thomas Mann Section IV: Libraries, Place, and Culture 12. On the Myths of Libraries
Bonnie Mak 13. Managing Pleasure: Library Architecture and the Erotics of Reading
Abigail Van Slyck 14. Going to Hell: Placing the Library in
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Adriana Estill Index About the Editors and Contributors
