The Anatomy of a Library

I have been thinking about libraries. Many historic libraries begin with donations of personal collections. As Walter Benjamin understands, in his essay “Unpacking My Library,” the collector is present in each book in his collection. He writes, “Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them”.  These historical libraries, which owe their legacy to the private collections Benjamin speaks of, contain elements of their founding members. The hallmarks of original collectors are present in a cumulative understanding of the libraries development over time, as it grows out from its original core. Public libraries must acknowledge the original collection while simultaneously shaping its services around the temporally relevant societal requirements. These forces work to change the experience of reading in the library, as each book is kept in the company of the library’s original collector.

As readers, we cultivate the meaning of a library through the company each book we choose is keptin. This selection process brings the reader into communion with the original collector, who is present in a historically cumulative understanding of this collection, or as Matthew. Battles writes in Libraries: An Unquiet History, “But the library- especially one so vast- is no mere cabinet of curiosities; it’s a world, complete and uncomplete, and its filled with secrets”.  In this world, the illusive idea of knowledge in totality is debunked. We can only hope to begin navigating the breadth of the stacks by exploring the library’s privilege of certain types of materials. This privilege, constructed by the historical social context of the library, contains the legacy of the original collector’s preferences. In this way, as we comply with the constructed argument of the library, we learn from its original collector, and perpetuate a doctrine which has been handed down to us systematically through time.