Marie Kondo has been in the zeitgeist for awhile, but especially now that she has a Netflix series. I saw the first episode awhile back and it reminded me of how having a space clean of clutter and mess really helps the mind feel clearer. Marie Kondo’s spiritual approach to objects also made me reflect upon our relationships with objects and why we feel so much attachment to inanimate things. Why can’t we just let those things go?...It's so obvious that I wonder why no one thought of it before. The way to improve our libraries is to clear out the collection of books!
Collections are representations of what librarians (or faculty) deem to be authoritative knowledge and as we know, this field and educational institutions, historically, and currently, have been sites of whiteness.
Library collections continue to promote and proliferate whiteness with their very existence and the fact that they are physically taking up space in our libraries.
The Pages Are White, Too
Why are our libraries so full of books? A critical essay from, I kid you not, Library Journal.
Not the Babylon Bee...
ReplyDeleteEnvy is a powerful force, isn't it?
Not a surprise.
ReplyDelete1)During the 2016 campaign, some librarians pointed out Trump's factual errors, a service that I don't recall librarians performing with regard to Barack "Speaking Austrian" Obama.
2)The ALA has had a lapdog attitude towards the Cuban regime. The regime has not exactly supported free flow of information, which would be of paramount importance for the ALA, one would think.
3)Circa 2000, the ALA had some sort of conference in Cuba. A Master's student in Library Science, who later got her Ph.D., wanted to attend. She couldn't get a visa because she had been born in Cuba. ALA didn't raise a stink about that.
If you kept treating a group as if they have a unique identity they will eventually begin to act as if they do.
ReplyDeleteMy wife is a librarian and I have been following ALA publications for decades. Reading and libraries used to be treasured because by them, Catholics and then Jews could get ahead by merit; then poor kids in general could get ahead on merit, and even immigrants! Then they were treasured because women could get ahead by excelling at reading and knowledge. Then it was a great American institution because gay people, or any sort of unusual or eccentric people could make their way forward in America.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that the previous holders of status, who were white, or well-bred, or male or whatever, were not punished and cast into the outer darkness. They were retained because they were also well-read and liked knowledge. This was unacceptable.
The point was never knowledge, but power.
Indeed, and now they completely tossed aside that messy knowledge bit and gone full power grab. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteSites of whiteness. Well, now I know.
ReplyDeleteFor many years I've noticed that decorators are skeptical of books. They hate the idea of using bookshelves for books, filling them instead with relatively sparse bric-a-brac. That's a purely aesthetic judgment, though, not a cover for hatred of culture or ethnicity.
This also reminds me of the funny Strange Planet cartoon about tidying: "We have taken all our irregularly shaped objects and placed them behind flat surface." "You have a lovely home." "Thank you. We own many things, but have concealed them." Books are more than clutter, but they do have a clutter aspect, though you could also call it warmth, depth, and texture, depending on how thoroughly you've bought into a passing fad for minimalism.
I confess it's been many, many years since I went into a library. I buy a lot of books digitally now, in print or in audio form. I re-read my old ones, but listen to new ones while I'm driving or doing chores. Having a book to listen to makes hours of weeding a lot more appealing, not to mention driving to Austin.
In a nearby town, there is a used academic and scholarly bookstore that I stop in from time to time. Invariably I am excited by what I find there, although I am often unable to afford it.
ReplyDeleteIf you cannot find the joy in the work, it may not be for you; but you can be sure it was there for someone, who else would not have written it. So much study, so much care, so much thought, all to explain something that caught their heart for a while.
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ReplyDeleteKinda "Fahrenheit 451"-ish
ReplyDelete