Over at Hyperallergic, I have contributed a new article on the removal of books from the fine arts library at UT-Austin and the planned movement of books from the libraries at UW-Madison [Article Here]. The tales of these two libraries is an increasingly familiar one, wherein thousands of books are deaccessioned or moved into off-site storage in order to make way for a hip new “makerspace” or mixed-use area. These changes are not only redefining what a library is, they are redefining how we interact with them.
Questions over what a library is (e.g. Is it a book warehouse? Is it a social space?) should also incorporate how the digital humanities can co-exist spatially with books, rather than replacing them altogether. How do we create a trinity within libraries wherein digital humanities labs can work in tandem with books and people?
Read the full post here.