Librarian in Residence – Goethe-Institut New York - Bibliotheken in den USA / US Libraries

The Artist Space presents: The Serving Library

nospam@example.com (Brigitte Doellgast) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:12:45 +0100

It is not often that one comes across a banner ad for a library hanging from a lamppost on Greene Street in SoHo. This is currently the case. It isn’t a library in the classical sense, but “The Serving Library” project of The Artist Space.

The project is described on (an unfortunately not very user-friendly) website:

„The Serving Library is a long-term project conceived by Dexter Sinister with writer Angie Keefer. Founded on a consideration of how the role of the library has changed over time – from fixed archive through circulating collection to a point of distribution – the format has become an umbrella project for all of Dexter Sinister’s activities. It consists of: 1) an ambitious public website; 2) a small physical library space; and 3) a publishing program which runs through #1 and #2.“

If you click your way through the website – best not with Internet Explorer, which the developers seem to have neglected?! – you’ll find a host of articles about all manner of libraries. For example, Rob Giampietro, David Reinfurt: FROM 0 TO 1

At a time when librarians heatedly discuss the future of libraries, question whether libraries are in a state of crisis (which one?), and wonder if future prospects for the profession are dim or rosy, perspectives from the outside are not only interesting, but maybe also inspiring.

Conferences, Unconferences and the Future of Libraries

nospam@example.com (Brigitte Doellgast) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:23:17 +0200

It has been some time since my last blog, but happily there is Twitter to fill in the gaps. In the interim, the Bibliothekartag has taken place in Germany and the ALA Annual Conference has begun in New Orleans. The atmosphere in the Big Easy will perhaps prove to be a help in getting back into the routine of blogging.

For a time, one got the impression -- from reading blogs and attending conferences -- that libraries (and librarians) were slowly but successfully working their way through the period of uncertainty that was triggered by the Internet, eBooks and the social media. Libraries found new areas of activity, becoming a gathering place for learning communities, for public Internet access, for acquiring information literacy, etc. Nevertheless, the question of the future of libraries remains the most hotly debated topic librarians engage in. At the "Unconference" held on the first day of the ALA Conference, a survey on relevant themes quickly revealed this to be precisely what librarians wanted to talk about. How can one get students into the library? Given shrinking budgets, how can one offer an ever-increasing number of new titles? How, under these conditions, does one deal with the not exactly library-friendly service spectrum of eBooks? How do we remain relevant? What was made clear in all of this, as a matter of course (and with a certain regret), was that the time in which every library was (also) viewed as a repository of information is past. eMedia, databanks and Internet sources, which increasingly comprise the information holdings of libraries, are no longer, as it is generally known, in the permanent possession of libraries, but merely are "leased".

The demands of archiving and maintenance no longer pertain. I find it amazing that this is not even being considered a problem by my American colleagues. Perhaps it is more of a European viewpoint that, in exploring a theme, one also takes a historical perspective? Anyone looking at the history of library science a century from now undoubtedly would gain a very different view of the development of the discipline if s/he could access regularly published contemporary lexicon entries rather than merely depend on a historical account offered by Wikipedia.

German-American Exchange Experience

nospam@example.com (Brigitte Doellgast) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 21:34:18 +0200

Anyone who has had the opportunity to make a professional trip abroad or take part in an exchange or internship program knows what an enriching experience this can be, both professionally and personally. But he or she also knows how much work is involved in preparing for such a trip, and perhaps more than a few have returned with the feeling that things might have gone differently if s/he had been better informed. In order to make available the wealth of information of those colleagues who have participated in such German-American exchanges, Ulrike Hartung, a student of Library and Information Sciences at the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart, sent out a wide-ranging questionnaire to librarians and library students in the winter of 2010, asking them to report on their experiences. And now, our Western European Studies Section (WESS) colleagues have kindly provided space on their Wiki, where you will find the initial results of the questionnaire. A special thanks to Ulrike Hartung for all of her work and to Richard Hacken for technical assistance.

Anyone who missed the chance to take part in the questionnaire, and who would like to add his or her experiences to the list, can still send them per email to: library @ newyork.goethe.org.