Messiness as a Virtue, Question 4

"4. What are the library prototypes? Experiment with identifying three levels of abstraction for libraries. Be sure to think about how different cultures may think about/abstract libraries."

The first, and most obvious, library prototype that I can think of is a book, or monograph. The prototype book would be bound (hard or softcover) and contain paper pages which have print on them. This prototype would be in a middle layer of abstraction - that is, the book contains words (the first level); many books make up a library (third level); the book itself is the middle level of abstraction.

I read Cleopatra: A Life last summer, and one of the things that I learned was that during Cleopatra's reign in Egypt, the county ran on a bureaucratic system which relied on extensive and detailed written records. These were not written on paper and bound into a book; instead, they were written on papyrus (made from reeds) and rolled into scrolls (because papyrus is thicker than our paper and less pliable, so it cracks). So, a library prototype for an ancient Egyptian would be rolled scrolls of papyrus, probably with tax records and other governmental data on them.

Ancient Tamil people (Indians) did not use paper either. Instead, they carved intricate scenes on palm tree leaves. I have some mounted and hanging on my wall. The leaves are quite large and dried, but one cannot roll them up, or they will split. Nor can one bind them into a group. So, palm tree "books" consist of only one large leaf with writing on it. These are two good example of how other cultures would view a prototype monograph.

Another, more abstract, library prototype would be the concept of free public libraries. This is an American prototype. Many countries either charge for library usage, do not loan out materials, or do not have libraries at all. Many libraries are connected to institutions, and one must be a member or student of said institution to use the materials therein. When we lived in southern India, I was only aware of one library that was not attached to a university (and therefore closed to the public); it was a private library, run like a business - you had to pay a fee to rent a book.

So the very concept of a group of books in one room, open to the public, which can be taken home and read, is only a valid prototype in some countries; not in all.