In Their Own Image: The Public Library Collection as a Reflection of Its Donors

Stauffer, Suzanne M.

doi:10.1353/lac.2007.0067

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In particular, the library's collection of texts and media are read as a reflection of community norms, ethics and values. When a donor bequeaths books to a library, it is typically assumed that these donations are intended to "creat[e] a public library that respond[s] to and reflect[s] the community's needs and interests, not merely those expressed in public statements and official documents" (Stauffer, 2007). In other words, books are donated to a public library as a specific act of altruism whose value goes beyond the economic and expands into the ethical, such that not only the act of donating but the content of the donated materials is to be read as part of the contributed gift [4].…”

Section: The Social Role Of the Librarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupy Wall Street and the myth of technological death of the library

Lingel

2012

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Within a week of the emergence of Occupy Wall Street, a library surfaced in the midst of the protest. Staffed by volunteers and comprised entirely of donated materials, the People's Library offers books and media to the public, provides basic reference assistance and has built an online catalog of their holdings. In this paper, I analyze the People's Library in terms of larger discussions of libraries, technology and activism. Drawing on personal experiences volunteering at the Library as well as text from the Library's blog, I argue that the People's Library offers two counter arguments to conventional claims about the public library: first, that libraries are being existentially threatened by the emergence of digital technologies and second, that a library's institutional ethics are located solely or predominantly in the content of its collection. Using the People's Library as a kind of conceptual case study, I explore the connections between public libraries, digital technologies and activist ideologies. Disciplines Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/592 Within a week of the emergence of Occupy Wall Street, a library surfaced in the midst of the protest. Staffed by volunteers and comprised entirely of donated materials, the People's Library offers books and media to the public, provides basic reference assistance and has built an online catalog of their holdings. In this paper, I analyze the People's Library in terms of larger discussions of libraries, technology and activism. Drawing on personal experiences volunteering at the Library as well as text from the Library's blog, I argue that the People's Library offers two counter arguments to conventional claims about the public library: first, that libraries are being existentially threatened by the emergence of digital technologies and second, that a library's institutional ethics are located solely or predominantly in the content of its collection. Using the People's Library as a kind of conceptual case study, I explore the connections between public libraries, digital technologies and activist ideologies. Contents Introduction The social role of the library Occupy Wall Street and the People's Library Discussion Conclusion Editorial history

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Section: The Social Role Of the Librarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupy Wall Street and the myth of technological death of the library

Lingel

2012

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“…In countries where tax legislation allows claiming tax relief even on small gifts, the financial benefit of making an in-kind donation might also be considered, as discussed by Lietaer (2008: 37-38). Certainly, we would like to believe that a genuine wish 'to make a difference' or 'show appreciation and gratitude' (Rogers 2000), as well as to promote education in the community (Stauffer 2007), to share one's passion for a certain subject, and support research and scholarship (Schaffner 2011) are among the main motives for bringing or sending material to libraries.…”

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confidence: 99%

Migrating heritage: experiences of cultural networks and cultural dialogue in Europe

Long

2016

International Journal of Heritage Studies

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“…Stauffer has argued that donor records are a useful source as they reflect the 'community's needs and interests, not merely those expressed in public statements and official documents'. 12 In Britain, Teresa Gerrard and Alexis Weedon's study of Huddersfield's Female Educational Institute's stock and issue book has demonstrated how they reflected middle-class understanding of working-class masculinity and femininity. 13 This article adds to such research by examining what the history and records of the Kidderminster Municipal Library can tell us about early public libraries after the 1855 Act and about the reading habits of working men in Kidderminster in the 1850s more broadly.…”

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The ‘Lower Classes Are Very Hard Readers’: Kidderminster Municipal Library 1855–1856

Gerrard

Weedon

2013

Library & Information History

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This article looks at the library borrowing records of Kidderminster Municipal Library at a time of economic decline in the main industry of the town -carpet weaving. It illustrates the limitations of the early libraries following the 1850 Public Libraries Act through a local study. It examines how the borrowing records recorded in a surviving issue book reflect trends in the popularity of reading materials and, in particular, growing interest in migration to London and emigration abroad.keywords free library, public libraries, reading, emigration, donations to libraries, Napoleonic wars, nineteenth-century working-class reading practices As one of the first libraries to be opened under the 1850 Public Libraries Act, the surviving records from Kidderminster Municipal Library provide a valuable source for investigating both the provision of texts via donated stock and the uses to which such resources were put in an early library. 1 Peter Hoare and Alistair Black's work on the history of public libraries in Britain points to the use of such sources in their historical context as a way forward in the study of libraries and information history. 2 Drawing on such guidance, this paper provides an indication of the limitations of the early libraries through a local study. The records of Kidderminster Municipal Library, which was reference-only until a lending library was established in 1881, reflect the fact that most of the early libraries suffered from an inadequacy of funds, despite the partial provision made for book purchase in the 1855 amendment to the Act. By 1896, only 334 districts in England and Wales had levied the library rate and, like Kidderminster itself, many of these districts were relatively small. These records allow us to examine the aims of the proponents of the Library and the hopes of the users alongside each other.Alistair Black observed that 'Free libraries were proposed as educators in economic practicalities', although their utilitarian aims were not 'pursued in isolation from its cultural concerns'. 3 Yet not all could live up to their aims. Philip Corrigan and Val

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In Their Own Image: The Public Library Collection as a Reflection of Its Donors

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

Occupy Wall Street and the myth of technological death of the library

Occupy Wall Street and the myth of technological death of the library

Migrating heritage: experiences of cultural networks and cultural dialogue in Europe

The ‘Lower Classes Are Very Hard Readers’: Kidderminster Municipal Library 1855–1856

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