Recently, there has been a decided surge of interest registered in our pro- fessional literature about ‘‘the library as place.’’ And this is true even of the popular press, where questions of both the library as a physical place and the place of the library as a social institution are raised for the consideration of the general public. Inspiring these questions of such a fundamental nature are the closely intertwined thoughts of related phenomena, among which figure the infusion of information technologies throughout most of society, the heightened awareness of the ubiquity of information sources and of the simultaneity of access to them, the unknown potential of the Internet, the equally unknown implications of the vast digitization projects in progress, the proper blending of paper and electronic sources in the hybrid library,
Advances in Library Administration and Organization, Volume 24, 53–90 Copyrightr2007 by Elsevier Ltd.
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and, not least among the issues raised for consideration, projections about the demise of the book in a supposed paperless society.
When the library as place is discussed in this context, often the outcome is couched in two polarized conceptualizations of the future. One is the model represented by no free-standing physical structure at all called library be- cause in this model, individuals are connected directly from anywhere to the sources of whatever type of information interests them. At the opposite end of the pole is the model suggested by the great library in ancient Alexandria, Egypt, which is invoked now more than it has been before in modern times.
It is a proven model and one that commentators find lends its spirit quite readily to the possibilities offered by the communication technologies at our disposal.
Slowly emerging in the context of these opposed futures of the library, however, is the attention to intrinsic attributes of the library that would make it considerably more than a physical space for books, computers, and related transactions. Discussion is turning to the library as a space of a very special kind, a location wherein the individual can sense and benefit from a unique and valued spirit. Moving into focus is the library as a conceptu- alized place in a philosophical and psychological sense, which is defined more fully below. This essay is about enriching the library experience through the conscious nurturing of a sense of place. Its purpose is to set this concept in the broader context of germane research and thought within several disciplines, so that place can be understood as an essential dimension of human life and, accordingly, be incorporated into the profession’s think- ing about library service.
This paper does not purport to be a review of the literature on the concept of place. But, it may have some of the appearances of such, because, except for brief parts of it, the essay leans very heavily on the published work of others in half a dozen or more fields. This multi-perspective approach affords rewarding insight into a concept of human interest, generally, and of heightened interest to librarianship, specifically, at this time. Within that framework, and due to both the approach adopted and the elusive nature of the concept under examination, this essay employs an unusual number of extended quotations. Discussion of place is not constructed on simple, hard facts, for by all accounts, place is a humanistic concept.
As employed across disciplines, there is no single definition for the word
‘‘concept,’’ although certain aspects of its meaning and use are commonly agreed upon. It is widely understood as a principal part of classification and a construct of knowledge and thought. A concept often is considered to function in thought the way a word functions in a sentence. From a different
perspective, according to Paul Thagard, researchers in psychology and artificial intelligence view concepts ‘‘as mental structures analogous to data structures in computers’’ (Thagard, 1992, p. 21). A principal role of con- cepts1 is the explanation of phenomena in a way that is memorable and relatively efficient to communicate. ‘‘To say that concepts have a catego- rization function is to acknowledge that concepts are essentially pattern- recognition devices, which means that concepts are used to classify novel entities and to draw inferences about such entities’’ (Smith & Medin, 1981, p. 8). H.H. Price concludes his classic work on thinking and experience with the assessment that ‘‘The most remarkable function which concepts have is that they make cognition in absence possible. If we possess concepts, or to the extent that we possess them, we are able somehow to think of objects, events or situations which we do not at the moment see or feel’’ (Price, 1953, p. 325). Finally, neurologist C. Judson Herrick summarizes the function of concepts in his observation that conceptual knowledge ‘‘provides the mental tools of all rational thinking at higher levels’’ (Herrick, 1956, p. 301).
The sense of place constitutes a very rich concept, the potential influence of which clearly indicates it to be a genuine entity endowed with much power from which the community can benefit, if we choose to give it appropriate attention. Therefore, place is worthy of the most serious con- sideration, especially at a time when so many fundamental options present themselves for the future of the library. This essay proceeds from the general to the specific: from analysis of the generic sense of place to an attempt at an embracing definition of place and discussion of its power and, from that foundation, on to consideration of the library as place. It is primarily about an understanding of the specific sense called place, which could well be adopted as a vision in the planning of library facilities and services, tailored to local situations.
Throughout at least two decades during the second half of the 20th cen- tury, the library profession seems to have lost track of the deeper, more human, values of the library experience that had evolved over preceding centuries. A large segment of librarianship, and perhaps also of the public, seems almost to have judged itself too sophisticated to be influenced by insubstantial notions, such as the ‘‘feel’’ of the library and the inspirational qualities of the library as part of an experience. Certainly, these are un- quantifiable attributes and, therefore, lend themselves to the intellectuali- zation of description, analysis, and explanation only with the greatest of difficulty. Consequently, the importance of this aspect of librarianship has in large measure eluded recognition in library management. Although the coeditors of the de facto manual for library space planning did allude to
something like the concept of place two decades ago, they did not attempt to define it, to identify it in any specific way with the purposes of the library, or to assess its importance. ‘‘The desired ‘feel’ of a space,’’ they write, ‘‘is at best difficult to establish in words. Words such asinviting,stimulating,low key,quiet,durable,pleasant,easy to maintain,vandal resistant,student proof, conducive to research or reading, and comfortableare common descriptions of the desired effect’’ (Metcalf, 1986, p. 115). But these simple qualifiers could just as well be applied to any number of architectural and design projects.
Now, however, the apparently wide-spread aversion to the slippery con- cept of place is slowly beginning to be addressed in librarianship. This is demonstrated not only by the recent flurry of publication about the library as place, as is reflected in the list of references appended to this essay, but also by more formalized means: The 2005–2006 American Library Asso- ciation president’s six-point recommendation for libraries to become more competitive in securing their resources includes the objective of ‘‘promoting the cultural and social value of the library as place’’ (Gorman, 2006, p. 4).2 The history of the concept of place throughout the past four decades or so raises several provocative questions, the consideration of which should cast light on the concept’s value to the planning and presentation of library services over the long term. For example: Why did place experience a decline in attention, generally, and with regard to the library as place, specifically.
Why are these positions turning around? What, indeed, does the concept of place signify, and what does it mean for the library? What is the role or fit of the concept in library management? Consideration of these issues is essential to answering the question that ultimately is so timely at this moment, which is why, in a society whose thirst for information is quenched so effortlessly by the push-button transaction, would the place matter if appropriate information can be retrieved from virtually any place?