Libraries, Archives, and all things Bookish...

[hmaria1609]

Did someone mention there is a writer whose mysteries all take place in libraries?

I recall Margaret Truman's work; all of hers occurred in National Park sites, I think.

But....libraries?

I'm sure I've bumped into Voltaire at the BnF....

;--}

M.

There was one set at the Library of Congress: Murder at the Library of Congress. It's #16 in her "Capital Crimes" series, published in 1999. Truman's novels are set at major DC buildings/landmarks.
Starting in 2012, Donald Bain then Jon Land took over the series.

[mamselle]

See?

I knew a librarian would know!

;--》

(And thanks for the correction, which made me do further research to discover that it's Nevada Barr who has NPS backdrops for her mysteries.)

M.

[Vkw10]

Ooh, cool!

Did she have any favorites?

M.

She didn't mention favorites to me, just asked me to send more. She likes cozy mystery series that have a theme, so I was delighted to stumble across that website. Makes it easier to keep my aunt and her retirement supplied, between library bookmobile visits.

[hmaria1609]

See?

I knew a librarian would know!

;--》

(And thanks for the correction, which made me do further research to discover that it's Nevada Barr who has NPS backdrops for her mysteries.)

M.

You're welcome!  :) I consulted this handy website: fantasticfiction.com

[secundem_artem]

In my field, I sometimes think we are no more than 5-10 years away from libraries being totally virtual.  No need for a building, books, stacks etc.  Everything, including librarians, will be full text and online.  Even now, I use library resources quite a lot, but I only set foot in our campus library 1-2 times a year.

[mamselle]

Even with digitization, I don't think manuscript studies will be able to do without archives.

One uses the digital files for basics, but one still needs to be able to look at hands-on objects for stray marks, binding errors, and other codicological details, etc., that digitization can't capture.

Thank goodness.

M.

[secundem_artem]

Even with digitization, I don't think manuscript studies will be able to do without archives.

One uses the digital files for basics, but one still needs to be able to look at hands-on objects for stray marks, binding errors, and other codicological details, etc., that digitization can't capture.

Thank goodness.

M.

No doubt.  Mrs Artem once worked for a group of medievalists  and they certainly required access to the primary documents.  Not necessary in my fields, but I do appreciate YMMV.

[mamselle]

Yes, a friend was working on a late medieval French document whose pages seemed oddly configured.

After a huge documentary exchange (over a year) of permissioning, she finally got to see it.

Turned out one of the quires had been reversed in an 18th c. rebinding, which you could only tell by the way the edges of the pages didn't align at the bottom and sides (thankfully they hadn't been shaved, which often happens).

By looking at the physical book, she was able to correct several centuries of incorrect scholarly assumptions about the person's interactions with the book's contributors (it was a commonplace-like collection of poems).

M. 

[mamselle]

Double, days later: I've been following up on some British comedians lately, and this episode of Veronica Wood's series came to light....

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvevW5FyxYM

I've been in British libraries before, but none quite like this.

M.

[Hibush]

I enjoy reading the Los Angeles Times for their entertainment-industry perspective on the news. It is not a perspective I run into otherwise. A new museum is opening in LA this week and they are on it. A couple of thoughts on presenting art are pertintent to libraries these days as well.

Large museums have always possessed an air of theatricality. When I was a child, Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry held a similar space in my brain as Walt Disney World did, thanks largely to its ride-like coal mine experience. Here in Southern California we're accustomed to fantasy and larger-than-life environments, be it one of our area theme parks or the Pompeii re-creations of the Getty Villa — an art theme park, more or less.

"I think you're going to have some creators of more traditional experiences that are disappointed in [these newer experiences]," says Carissa Baker, an assistant professor with the University of Central Florida who writes about theme parks as artistic spaces.

There was a different approach to the design of these places in the past," Baker says. "The artifact itself was the thing that mattered, but then we started getting to setting. What's the setting? I can't think of a better example of that than the Getty Villa. That is a themed space. But those artifacts, in that space, feel more authentic, which is ironic, because they are authentic — but I feel immersed in that space, in a traditional environment that created that art."

That interpretation raises the question of whether an artificial setting can increase the authenticity of artifacts. How would the rare-manuscript room of a library be changed for the better if Disney or AMPAS designers were given free rein to use their imaginations?

[traductio]

Large museums have always possessed an air of theatricality. When I was a child, Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry held a similar space in my brain as Walt Disney World did, thanks largely to its ride-like coal mine experience. Here in Southern California we're accustomed to fantasy and larger-than-life environments, be it one of our area theme parks or the Pompeii re-creations of the Getty Villa — an art theme park, more or less.

"I think you're going to have some creators of more traditional experiences that are disappointed in [these newer experiences]," says Carissa Baker, an assistant professor with the University of Central Florida who writes about theme parks as artistic spaces.

There was a different approach to the design of these places in the past," Baker says. "The artifact itself was the thing that mattered, but then we started getting to setting. What's the setting? I can't think of a better example of that than the Getty Villa. That is a themed space. But those artifacts, in that space, feel more authentic, which is ironic, because they are authentic — but I feel immersed in that space, in a traditional environment that created that art."

That interpretation raises the question of whether an artificial setting can increase the authenticity of artifacts. How would the rare-manuscript room of a library be changed for the better if Disney or AMPAS designers were given free rein to use their imaginations?

The idea that an artificial setting can increase the perception of authenticity ("authenticity" is a word I steer clear of, although I'm happy to talk about the perception of it) is the central idea in Umberto Eco's chapter about Las Vegas in Travels in Hyperreality, a book whose humor I thoroughly enjoyed when I read it years ago.

[mamselle]

Ooh, ooh, ooh, Eco, libraries, "Name-of-the-Rose," now THAT was a library...

Also, I hope the Beaux-Arts has the good sense to keep keeping their paws off the reading rooms in the BnF/Rue Voltaire.

Nothing like the smooth round chair feet sliding like satin across the patina'ed parquet floor and the three-tier-high shelves with their little corner spiral steps going "into the gods" will ever exist again if they modernize that.

I was awe-struck the first time I went in, in 1996, and I have been every time since. (And It's where I bumped into Voltaire, looking for a book...)

The British Library is cool, too, of course...

M.

[mamselle]

They  heard me.

The British Library, that is.

They just sent this, which, if you're named for a certain iconic, idolized, raincoat-wearing bear, might be of interest.

   https://britishlibraryemails.bl.uk/5JXV-ATSL-C0B9A3B24156DF9E13LM50029CBBC879F39141/cr.aspx

He's their mascot....

;--》

M.

[apl68]

Our library is getting ready to apply for a grant to build a "story time walk."  You know the nature loops at parks, where you have interpretive plaques on little stands here and there talking about local wildlife and such?  This is the same idea, except that the interpretive stations contain pages of a children's picture book.  You have to walk the whole loop to get the whole story.  I saw one at a park a couple of years ago while on vacation.

We've learned that libraries in our state will become eligible for 20 opportunities to get all the paraphernalia needed to set up a story time walk.  The deal includes 20+ stands, with laminated story pages to fit them.  And they will even give us multiple prepared stories to swap out!  We're supposed to make the trail about half a mile long.  I've been pacing off the library's grounds to figure out how we could loop such a trail here.  It will be a challenge, but I believe we can do it.

Alternatively, we could try selling the city park on serving as community partners to host the trail.  I've tried pacing off a likely-looking section there.  Looks like it will be a challenge to fit it in there as well, due to all the fences and ditches that break up the park property.  The advantage of putting it in the public park is that it would be far more likely to be discovered--the park has been getting a lot more traffic since COVID ruined our business.  I've got to make a decision about which of these options to propose before we start writing our proposal.

[mamselle]

That's a cool problem to have!

How far is the library from the park?

Could you, instead of a loop, lead them, breadcrumb-like, FROM the park, TO the library? Even have an affiliated activity at the library when they get there?

I.e., 1. Curious George makes paper hats, or someone does, in one of his stories. Have materials for making a newspaper hat at the desk for them to ask for on arrival (maybe drop hints along the way that they, too, might get to ..., as teasers.

Or, 2. In "The Dancing Crane," there are images or the moving mystery -bird; have headphones for which the librarian could set some sakahatchi music, and ask them to slowly move as the crane is shown to move in the book--even have a silent video to watch of the ways they slowly pick up and put down their feet to watch with it--etc.

You could also have a small freezer-bag kit with a card of instructions for folding a paper crane, and a couple pieces of origami paper, so they could keep one, and leave one for the library to string up as a mobile, with others, in the children's room, or a dusky hall, or someplace.

3. Google just did, last year, a cool story about a young African girl who learns to play mbira (aka kalimba, or thumb-piano) and becomes part of a traditional/fusion band. If you have a space where kids can be overseen by the adults they bring with them, and a couple of kalimbas (easy to order online) they could read the story on the way to the library, then watch the ending on Google, then try playing the instruments and dancing, themselves.

It could also segue to a teaching session on the African-rooted slide-dance 《Jerusalemma》(Jerusalem, my home) that's become so popular on YT recently.

I've done the cranes in elementary classes as a sub, and used the kalimba materials for my younger music appreciation class last year, both went well.

4. They could make a shoe-box diorama of the story, using found materials and fabric scraps, tiny wooden doll-heads, etc. (Also online/orderable) for the people, etc.

I realize if the distance is too great, it might not work, and you may not have a room for the noisier or messier activities (but they could be done outside; parents just have to agree to remain present and active as cadmium rods to keep the neutrinos under control when the isotopes start bouncing around...)

Just...thoughts!

;--》

M.