Library of Walls: The Library of Congress and the Contradictions of Information Society

by Samuel Gerald Collins

In Library of Walls, Samuel Collins engages the heterogeneities of information society at the Library of Congress through ethnographic fieldwork, suggesting that "information society" is best understood at the locus of conflicting modalities imbricating text, space, work and life. During the 1990's, the Library of Congress was beset with challenges to its traditional roles in cataloging and scholarship while at the same time re-inventing itself as a library "without walls." The "order of books" was threatened on several in the explosive growth of accessions, in the challenges of online materials and different container types, and in fundamental disagreements about the role of the Library vis-à-vis the nation. But rather than analyze these as separate etiologies, Collins sees them as the expression of an inherently Janus-faced information society that limits information and forecloses debate even as it multiplies avenues of access. Collins considers multiple sites at the Library-its spaces, its artifacts and organization-as contested sites where varied actors negotiate information, knowledge and nation amidst an institution whose own shifting priorities synecdochally mirror the ambiguities and unease of contemporary society.

Genres: Library Science

216 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2009

Reviews

[Travis Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely the best hybrid of critical theory and information society studies I have read to date. Whether other works get fixated on the implications of technology, Collins deliberately rejects those leanings and reminds readers that spaces of information still involve people and are very much a product of human achievement, as well as failure. Though dense in use of vocabulary, it is easy enough to Google a definition and build on what Collins is saying. Again, very much worth your time to read.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but dense. A lot of high level vocabulary.