Readings for LIT 6855: On the Library

---

"The Author vs. The Library" by Nicholson Baker in The New Yorker, Oct 14 96

A selection from The Jobless Future: Sci-Tech and the Dogma of Work by Stanley Aronowitz and William DiFazio (University of Minnesota Press, 1994).

From Representations:

1. "Texts, Traces, Trash: The Changing Media of Cultural Memory" by Aleida Assmann

2. Introduction to Representations # 42 (Bloch and Hesse)

3. "The Places of Books in the Age of Electronic Reproduction" by Geoffrey Nunberg

4. "History, Philosophy, and Ambitions of the Bibliotheque de France" by Jamet and Waysboard

5. "The Libraries of Eastern Europe: Information and Democracy" by Prosser Gifford

6. "A Civic Library for San Francisco" Cathy Simon

RESEARCH LINKS:

On the architecture of the digital library; on how one university library was reconfigured; UF library link.

Questions:

What do you see as the major concerns regarding the future of the library which arise from your readings? Which critical methodologies are employed in making these arguments? What are the points of friction or debate between/among these pieces?

How would you characterize the politics of any of these pieces? Since these pieces were written, what has changed--or not?