Description:Q5337

Bookspace: Collected Essays on Libraries addresses the architecture of modern public spaces and the development of library collections in the age of digital information, in order to discuss the larger social context of libraries as institutions. Featured libraries include the British Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, the Belgian Royal Library, the Grimm-Zentrum Library at Humboldt University of Berlin, the Dar El-Kutub (National Library of  Egypt), the New York Public Library, and many others. A conversation with David Pearson, Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries at the City of London Corporation, opens the discussion with insights into the social role of libraries, their management, and their changing functions. Other contributions include architect João Torres on his ArchiPrix-winning design for Lisbon’s Central Library and Municipal Archive, and writer and architect Jorge Reis on the historical roots of library architecture. Publisher and designer Marie Lécrivain shares her experience using libraries across London, Brussels, Paris, and beyond, while Egyptian journalist Heba El-Sherif discusses ‘the right to know’ and freedom of access to information in post-revolutionary Cairo. Photographer Julius Motal traces the daily interaction between public space and library visitors through a series of photographs taken at NYPL’s famous main branch in Manhattan. Finally, Tom Vandeputte, course director of the MFA Critical Studies at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam, shares his views on current developments in academic libraries and the implications for the future ‘politics of study’.