BEHIND THE BOOKSHELVES by Zalán Szakács

BEHIND THE BOOKSHELVES

ZALÁN SZAKÁCS

BEHIND THE BOOKSHELVES ANECDOTES ABOUT LIBRARIANS

INTRODUCTION

Behind the bookshelves started as a research project about the future of the libraries. Through the research time I became more and more curious about the perspectives of the librarians, their anecdotes, their thoughts about the daily job, the passion towards the books and the future of the library. I decided to create a book about the librarians, which includes interviews from different libraries in the Netherlands. This publications reflects their opinions about the development of the digitalisation of the libraries; a shift into a new era. Talking with librarians from institutions such as the Amsterdam University Library, National Library in the Hague, Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, Technical University Library in Eindhoven, Design Academy Eindhoven, Public Library in Eindhoven made me aware about the complexity and the mystery of this job. In addition to this analogue book I uploaded the content to an online platform, a digital version of this publication; through this, an interaction occurs between the two versions.

INTRODUCTION

BEHIND THE BOOKSHELVES ANECDOTES ABOUT LIBRARIANS

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

I AM NOT A LIBRARIAN AT ALL EDUARD A. VAN HOUTEN INTERVIEW Nº 01 / 07

8 – 15

“I HAVE TO ADMIT, I DON’T READ BOOKS” ODILIA VAN ROIJ INTERVIEW Nº 02 / 07

16 – 21

THE LIBRARY IS MORE LIKE A COMMUNITY CILIA GROOTHUIS INTERVIEW Nº 03 / 07

22 – 27

“JAPANESE WAS MY DREAM AS A CHILD” MELINDA KÓNYA INTERVIEW Nº 04 / 07

28 – 33

YESSS, A BIG YES! EVIE PIEPERS INTERVIEW Nº 05 / 07

34 – 37

NO SINGLE MODUS OPERANDI OF PIRATE LIBRARIES EXIST BALÁZS BODÓ INTERVIEW Nº 05 / 07

38 – 41

PAPER VERSUS DIGITAL KARIN KWAST INTERVIEW Nº 05 / 07

42 – 45

LIBRARIAN AT THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN AMSTERDAM

EDUARD A. TEN HOUTEN

I AM NOT A LIBRARIAN AT ALL

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF AMSTERDAM GOOGLE SCHOLAR BIBLIOTHECA ROSENTHALIANA PIRATE LIBRARY MICROFICHES

Eduard A. ten Houten works as a librarian at the University of Amsterdam. In the following interview he shares his discoveries about the secret world of the pirate libraries. Tell me about how you become a librarian? I started in 2007 as a student at two of the libraries of humanities faculty, english, slavic languages and history. I was there at the front office, which means that I help students with questions, help them find books. Then I moved to the main library of the University of Amsterdam, where they installed a new system to borrow books, it was regarded as the future and now it is a bit outdated. That system was very interesting, because it allows students and members to get their books without a person having to hand a the book to them. It was a self service one and they can also use it on the weekends and they can use it until midnight until the library closes.

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF AMSTERDAM

I finished there as de facto team leader and then I moved to Berlin. And I returned in october 2013 to Amsterdam to work at the library again and then I worked in the depot, which is the place, where most of the book are kept. You can go there but you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take out the books from the shelves. There is around 50 km of material there.And I returned when they were in the middle of the restructuring of the library in the centre of Amsterdam. In 2018 they want to open a central library in the heart of Amsterdam. That means that all the humanities libraries, which are now on different locations have to be moved and this process is massive. It means reducing the open stacks, so shelves where you can go as normal member to take a book of the shelf. There has to be a reduction from 12km to 7 km. That means 5 km is either has to be moved to the old depot or has to be destroyed or sold. Around 20 percent of the books that they want to deselect, were already at the depot, so they are gone and most of this has now finished. That means off course a lot of books had to come to the depot and had to get a new signature a new number, because the old signature was for particular collection like English or German and had to be added to existing label. They created a machine that creates both the sticker that you physically can put on the book and the cataloguing change from the location. So a very interesting thing was developed for University of Amsterdam. When I got there I found hundred boxes full of books, so there was still a lot of work to do and I got very frustrated by seeing all these books and seeing them grow every day, because twice a week we would get new boxes full of books from the centre. So I developed a workflow that made it easier to preselect and to get the whole work flowing. Then I was fired there, so I could move to the library services, where I had already worked, so I was in the other side of the deselection process. Then I moved to information centre services. Now I mainly work at the information desk, that means, if students, who have problems with the software, problems with computers, that they can use, but

EDUARD A. TEN HOUTEN INTERVIEW NÂş 01 / 07

also off course students, who can’t find information. Recently they made a deal with google to digitalise 100.000 books from the UvA library and what interesting is, but I am not allowed to tell you, but I will, these books are packed, hundreds a week and then sent to somewhere, literally no ones knows, except one of my former colleagues. There is somebody in the library, whose task is basically to think about the library of the future and a few years ago, before I went to Berlin, he said that they are thinking of moving most of the books to the depot, which is in the edge of the city and to put the most of the books in the depot. If you want a book, it will initially be digitalised, and be sent as a pdf to you, if copyright allows for that. So you will receive pdf rather than a book itself. If you want a book itself, as a student, you can ask for it and it will not cost you money, but if you are an ordinary member you will have to pay to see the physical book and to take it home. That was around five years ago. I am not sure, this plan is still on the books, because it is very expensive to scan a book. If you would like to have an article for a journal that we have in Amsterdam and you don’t have, you can request the article and you fifty cent per page and I have done that. I created such pdf’s, you just get in your email in the next day. But it takes much more time then the fifty cents. Once they calculated, how much money it costs to take a book from the depot, from the edge of the city, to the member: it is surprisngly expensive to move one book from the depot to the person. For that reason, it might be better to digitalise books, and to send them as a PDF rather then a book. There is only one librarian, and she is the boss of the library. So technically I am not a librarian at all. Internet so far, is not very important, when people come with questions. You have to tell each student to check out Google scholar, because it is quit good.We have online databases, so now the public internet is not very important, but the subscription to digital journals and to create collection for philosophy and law of databases that are specialised and that is quite important and to give students instructions, on how to use them, because it will absolutely help them and you sooner tell the better. The change from physical books is helping people find information. Old generation does not really like it, they prefer books, I don’t mind either. I like books, but I am no way opposed to online information or what ever, because quite often it is the best and the newest. What do you think about the digitalisation? Depends what you call as a library, the whole institution of the university in this case, I am only talking about university libraries. Or is a library a place, where you walk into get books, because there are already even university libraries in the USA that have no books at all. One of the libraries, where I work at, there are not that many books, most were deselected, and they call it a library learning centre. It is a combination of a small library and a small stuff of librarians and then mainly computers and facilities for students to study. I think it is very expensive to keep books in many cases. What you should actually do, to throw books away.

INTERVIEW Nº 01 / 07 EDUARD A. TEN HOUTEN

GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Literally and physically, sell them, destroy them. I often tell students, who come to me, who need a particular book, but four people have made a reservation already and they really need it there are two possibilities: Get it from a different library in the Netherlands. Go online, to Amazon.de and buy it for 42 cent plus € 3 postage. Because many books, you can find second hand very cheap. Often they do that. If you want to keep a special collection, the UvA has a great Jewish Hebrew collection. It is one of the best in world. The collection itself is special, the collection itself has an history. Individual books may not be very interesting, but the fact that they belong to Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana means that you can not throw them away. That you have to keep them and I think of course, how will continue, because it is cultural history. But newspapers I think in 20 years, all the Russian ones, will be digitalised and can be physically thrown away. Since six months ago, they changed the criteria that the term either a book is only for a consultation at the library so for one day and off course the next day is also possible, but you can not take it home. Books that you can take home, you can renew for six months and so on, it used to be quit strict. I asked why did this happened, and they said, we want to be a users library, we don’t want to keep the books, we want people to be able to use them. That is also a particular shift in the idea, what a library is for the UvA. Do you think that people need the physical stuff or the digital stuff? It really depends on the article you are working on. For me, when I wrote my master thesis I needed a lot of digital online stuff, because I use primary sources, which no one else used. At the same time having 40 or 50 books at home. I would be surrounded by books and in both digital and physical books, they both have advantages, for instance if you can search in your computer for key words in a particular book for key words. In a book that does not have an or does it have an index, or it does but a limited one, of course that is phantasmic, because you can work fast. In the other hand to have books around you creates a particular atmosphere or sphere on you desk physically and you know physically, where they are in the door. So you know, on which page it is and it gives a different way of remembering what you are working on. But I think both are important. What do you think about the future definition from the librarian as a cybrarian? Do you think that you could become one in 50 years? In 50 years? It is a long long time. I don’t think so, personally for me the UvA library is still deeply rooted in the humanist tradition, that started in 15th, 16th, 17th hundred developed and developed and in the end that is a physical place. Even if it does not contains books, it potentially contains books, because you can still request them. There is still the physical movement of books through that physical space. I think I personally for me, I would miss the

INTERVIEW Nº 01 / 07 EDUARD A.TEN HOUTEN

BIBLIOTHECA ROSENTHALIANA

physical interaction with people. Students have told me, that I have a good memory and I have a broad knowledge. I think that it would be different, if you don’t see the person, it is like online teaching, which I think it is very difficult. It is the telepresence. What do you think about the future role of the librarian? Recently they replaced the word “vakreferent” with information specialist and I posed that, because I am conservative by nature, but I also don’t mind, so what I think about the future of the librarian will be is, as I said: helping people to find information, but also still, having the deep institutional memory, which is very difficult. What I hope the future will be is taking as much advantage of digitalisation of scanning or opening up copyright free material and still having the physical element for ever. Because if that’s gone, for me is no more library, for me it is a collection of information and you have to find a new word for that. Pirate libraries are often Russian and they are always online. There are three types of books and articles: Some are public, and they put in the library to make it complete. They are privately scanned books, which are uploaded and you can download. There were expensive books, by publishers and they publish quite specialised material a book costs € 80. What students now do is they all pay 8 euro, they buy one copy, scan it and they put in of the pirate libraries, so they can all use it. This is going to a very interesting development. I think many scientists prefer to be read rather than to make money, because they want to keep the copyright, but they don’t care if people scan it and use it.

PIRATE LIBRARY

How the library of the future will be? In 5 years? In 40 years? In 100 years? In five years the old generation they will have to understand the internet better and all that. Students will be instructed much better in the first year, how to find information online. In 40 years I think that so much will be digitalised, that much of it the university library will be reduced to maintaining cultural memory and cultural heritage. As for where physical books are concerned and that digitally, if people want to study, there will be a well integrated system about information data bases and super linked. There will be new technology, an e-reader will be horrible outdated, so I don’t know about technology, how that will be. In 100 years there will be still freaks, who would like to touch books and to own books. I think humans will think in such a different way, then we do today. What do you think about the cultural heritage in the Digital Age? There is a project at the library, what happens is that they select valuable rare books and they send them to Den Haag to Royal library and they are digitalised there and they used to put them on microfiche. They did that with lot of books in the 80’s, but it means that they put 10.000 books

EDUARD A. TEN HOUTEN INTERVIEW Nº 01 / 07

“IN 100 YEARS THERE WILL STILL BE FREAKS,WHO WOULD LIKE TO TOUCH BOOKS AND TO OWN BOOKS”

on microfiche and these microfiches just stand there. So there is a lot of information, but no one uses it, because of the technology it is still there, it works. But it such a bizarre old system, that no one uses it. Off course they stopped doing that, now they create a pdf. What they do they take the book and they put into an acid free bag, so a very beautiful textile cloth bag. They put a sticker on it, they seem the bag and they put it back to it’s place. Never to be opened again, unless your grandfather wrote that book and you are writing a PhD thesis on your grandfather and that copy is the only one in existence and you want to see it physically, then if you get special permission you can look at it. So these books are physically disappearing in body bags, because the book is death, you can’t request it, you can only see that it is there. But you can get the digital one. So I think it is fantastic, that they digitalise these things and at the same time conserve the books in a safe place. What are the most important aspects of a good collection in your opinion? A good library knows what it is and it wants to be and what it never be therefor. Either conservation or use or both. We want to be a library specialised biology and sciences, classics in humanities. No university library in the Netherlands has enough money to buy everything. How important is the social contact between the librarian and the user? I really enjoy contact with users. I think for students and for users as well it is very important to know who the people are to go to someone. I really think it is important to be friendly, as it is called service oriented.

THE LAYOUT WAS INSPIRED BY THE NEO CLASSICAL GRAPHIC DESIGN

EDUARD A. TEN HOUTEN INTERVIEW Nº 01 / 07

LIBRARIAN AND ARCHIVIST AT THE VAN ABBE MUSEUM IN EINDHOVEN

D O

A I

N A

O R

“I HAVE TO ADMIT, I DON’T READ BOOKS”

VAN ABBE MUSEUM BASISARCHIEFCODE EL LISSITZKY CHARLES ESCHE MINIMALISM FLUXUS ART IMPRESSIONISM RUSSIAN AVANTGARDE

Odilia van Roij works as a librarian and archivist at the library from the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven. In the following interview he explains about the unique characteristics of books and why they artpieces for her.

Could explain to me a bit your daily profession as a librarian? I have two jobs in the library. We are the only institution in the Netherlands and maybe in the world, who has his archives and the library at the same area. So that’s why we can be an institution for knowledge and research.

VAN ABBE MUSEUM

Why an archive with a library?

You can combine your document from your institution with your publications, so it is connected together. We here are only working with three people, one is head librarian and archivist, one librarian and I am a documentation filer and librarian. In the morning I working in the archive, it is not only archive, it is the beginning and storing of all kinds of documentation, which enters by mail into the museum. I am allowed to open all mail, it is a strict area, that needs a special education as well. I am more like a liaison officer, I know all kind of jobs, in the museum, I know everything from the director till the education. So I can connect document, which are coming into the museum towards the person and especially people in the office. They can work on it, so they can choose that policy, but also plans to make exhibitions. In that workflow, we get question from the library, if they are planning an exhibition, then they need publications as well for their own research, so that’s why they are coming to the library. So then you can see the start, where the combination of archive and library also starts. They can also ask us for special publications for exhibitions and we can help them to give them advise, where they can get the information, and if we don’t have the information at home, we can order it. If we only make exhibitions, then, when the exhibition finally occurs, all the information about the exhibition, press releases, pictures, photos, all prints for flyers, also with financial details come back into my office and then we are going to split, what is is necessary for documentation in the archive area, but also for the library. So it will always be on the level that we make subject files, so it will stay together. Then we try to make as much as to give our visitors in our online catalogue also a viewpoint for the publications and also for the exhibitions to make it digital. Digital can only be a certain area, because not everything is public space. Other tasks are that every publications, which comes in, we have to fill in all data bases, so that is behind the scenes, to make our online catalogue as correct as possible. In mind always look at what we have got inside, so artwork from our own collection is first degree, and then people, who want to follow certain artist are also a very important subject. To fill in all the important details from the publications into the system.

ODILIA VAN ROIJ INTERVIEW Nº 02 / 07

What is about the digitalisation of the library from the Van Abbe Museum?

BASISARCHIEFCODE

If you see in the documents the archive side, we are part of the City Council of city of Eindhoven. We are specifically guided by an archive law, and that means, that after 20 years, the documents are going to an other place and it is a more open space area. Last year we finished all documentation about thr concerned documents, the meetings, what did we bought, how and why did we bought that piece of art from 1933 until 1989 is digitalised, and this means that 75.000 records is putted into our media bank. That media bank is also for our future plans that also the artworks and the covers of the artworks are also in that media bank and old pictures about exhibitions are also in the media bank. It is so large that you can sit from home and watch the exhibition from your couch.That is still in the development, but it is our future. On the other hand, what is digital now is the library blog, where certain items, we try to put as much as possible for visitors and research like architecture, old floor plans, but also the information about former directors, which has been ask for many many years and then the library online as well. So then you got the media bank, the library online and blog, these are the three main parts for our library.

What do you think are the main differences between the past and the present of a library as you experienced through your carrier? I said, that the media bank is a very good example, that you will be informed into the digital world. It already started 15 years ago, when the museum policy changed ten years ago, and that’s why the documents are in the media bank. Over ten years, we had to do it with an other archive as well, so we try to do a whole archive, a paper archive towards the digital area. So my job as a librarian, who is writing on cards, that will still be, because paperwork is much handier for people to do research. So I don’t think it will change all publications will be e-readers. People will still copy. That is the moment, that we are waiting for. People ask for clean desk policy, and in the other hand, they like books for example. For us a book is not only a book to read. In exhibitions publications are used for context. So it becomes an artist book. So we will always keep books.

So you think that people will need the physical stuff, the physical value of a book? In my opinion yes, because otherwise is not a book anymore. If you can see we also have a library exhibition and then we are also explaining to people that, even a small piece of paper is a publication. I think that that is an awareness that a book is more thing that you can switch, look back, look forward and search for phrases. I think that the awareness for us that people look to a publication, and not think in an ordinary book.

How will the library of the future be? For me a difficult question. Like a said we used them as art. I think that there will be less books, and for us to have a bigger selection. At the moment we have got 160.000 titles. That could be an arrangement from modern and contemporary art, but also related things like poetry. I don’t think that you can have poetry in a digital area, because the artist gives his feelings in a material. And as long as that part is there, the feeling about the material and paper issue that will be changed, because if you only need a book to do research for your information like a concern of annual report. An annual report does not have to be

ODILIA VAN ROIJ INTERVIEW Nº 02 / 07

printed. Normally a book is a paperwork, but if you put in a plaster plate and you would say annual report, it is also the feeling that I got an annual report and if I link that then everybody can read it. This kind of material will disappear in a library.

How important is the social contact between the librarian and the reader? A lot. Specially a library like the Van Abbe Museum, because we are a scientific library. People can’t walk to the shelves and pick a book. You are only allowed in certain area, so they need digital systems to find the whole area. But if you are looking for subjects, it is written in artificial language, it is called thesauri. It means that in thesauri you have upper and lower graduates. You take a subject for example impressionism, you have post impressionism and neo impressionism. So if you only look for impressionist, you can’t find post and neo impressionism. So there is the connection between the librarian and his visitor. People come here to do research and want to know something about Picasso. If you search young Picasso, you will find probably 11.000 items. So if that question will come towards us, then we are going to ask, what you really like from Picasso? Do you want to have a certain period? Or do you like his blue period? Then you will give to the visitor more interest. Maybe if they can put Picasso in his blue period, maybe there are 150 items. That is the interaction, what we do as a librarian to our visitors, but also for our interns and curators. Because they have got a plan, in the brainstorm, I think all humans are like cattle, you can not do it alone, you need to communicate. So for us it is very important that it would be people like us in the library. How is the relationship between the curator and the librarian? Interaction is there, especially as our former head librarian, is head curator researcher. She is now curator and she is in the staff itself. So if the exhibition curator and the head curator are planning an exhibition, she is the first one to get in touch and she can give examples, so this is what we got already in house and she goes to our head librarian. What is for you the perfect book? I have to admit, I don’t read books. It is more like I am working in the archives, for me a book means that I can not relax anymore. Because I have to deal against time. In a short time I have to find out, what is the issue of the book, it’s purpose. That is for me the main part of my job to give information to other people. I think it is very difficult a good book, for me it must be a very small book with colourful pictures, but I am visualised, I will remember everything as long as there are pictures. That is way I don’t like reading. The notes and phrases are very important, because that’s what people remember and in every level in a school book, children book but also scientific research book. Do you think that the way that we read and receive information changed through digitalisation? Do people handle information in different ways? Definitely. It is getting worse and it means worse, that we noticed that students don’t learn, how to do research, instead of more then ten years ago. So our floor manager developed a plan, with some certain universities to give them a guideline, how to do research and especially it became worse, with the Googlesation, Wikipedians.

INTERVIEW Nº 02 / 10 ODILIA VAN ROIJ

IMPRESSIONISM

We are not on a high level. People think that if we use Wikipedia, it is true, but it is not. So that is our problem in the digital world. That is way I said a good book needs phrases, a colophons and especially notes, where it came from and also the language itself and it does not matter if it’s Dutch, or German in every country the level for good language being used is getting worse. What are the most important aspects for a good collection of a library? We have good certain degrees. First of all the concern policy is important. We will see in our history, what the head curator is following is also in the library to been seen. Like Charles Esche, his influence is more art and politics, so you will find a lot of art and politics in this area, when he is head curator. We also known that we got Minimalism, Fluxus Art, so we try to find as much as possible at these streaming in art. Then off course the artist, which we have in our collection are important, and you will see artist, who has been in exhibition. There is a selection, that is the most difficult one: the new artist, you have to pick them out. Off course, when you find out that a young artist, who has won a price, have to try to get that publication. The Van Abbe Museum has a huge collection on work of El Lissitzky and I assume that in the library, you have a lot of books about his collection? Yes. It is not only in the library, because El Lissitzky is an old part, because a lot of publications are from the collection itself. We have got the largest El Lissitzky collection in the Western world. And also related items, like Malevich and the Russian Avant Garde. Since last year, we also got a LS collection, that is a publication about Russian Art, but it is not available at the moment. It has been last year we got 15.000 Russian Art books. So it has to be translated. That makes us the largest Russian library in the Western World.

CHARLES ESCHE MINIMALISM FLUXUS ART

RUSSIAN AVANT GARDE

Which new skills are required from a modern librarian? At the moment it is clear, it is just a desktop and specific librarian application, but only thing is that we have to be aware of, is how to stand up in this world against all financial problems, because a library costs a lot of money, so you have to use your systems that you have to deal with other people, who do all digital things, that you have to make yourself strong that you are an institution of knowledge. That is my biggest part and I have to show my face. Bringing people to all kind of matter that they all welcome here. We have got a library exhibition, the head curator of research, she was the former librarian, she is still busy with living archive, that is very important and goes to symposiums, meetings also from Belgian and Dutch librarians to give them also your knowledge, what you also planning to for the next ten years. What are the most important plans for the next ten years? Other archives will be digitalised, it depends because we are still a part of the city council. It all depends on money, if there is no money, you can’t do anything and that is the biggest issue in this world, unfortunately.

THE LAYOUT WAS INSPIRED BY THE RUSSIAN ARTIST EL LISSITZKY

ODILIA VAN ROIJ INTERVIEW Nº 02 / 07

BUSINESS DEVELOPER AT THE EINDHOVEN LIBRARY

CILIA GROOTHUIS

THE LIBRARY IS MORE

LIKE A COMMUNITY

EINDHOVEN LIBRARY RAY OLDENBURG KENNISMAKERS BURGER BIBLIOTHEKEN NATIONAL LIBRARY ORGANISATION NATIONAL LIBRARY CONGRESS

Cilia Groothuis works in the Business Development department at Eindhoven Library. In the following interview, she shares an inside view from her daily job. When did you start working for the library?

EINDHOVEN LIBRARY

I have worked for Eindhoven Library since 2008. They hired me, because I have expertise in retail thinking. At that time it was the idea that the library should lend out as much books as they could. Books and other materials like CD’s, DVD’s, etc. There was this saying: ‘massa is kassa’. That means that you should present as many books as possible in the most attractive way. With the cover on the front instead of the other way. By doing this you would lend out more books and the library was paid for lending out lots of books. And that is where my retail experience fitted in. I heard there is a special system for books and the shelfs that they are lower. Is this also made to lend out more books?

Actually that is also because of the safety, we have less personnel and, fewer persons that can help you and because of safety you can see over the shelfs. That is the main reason. And optically it is much better, because of the light. You can even put the same amount of books on this shelves than we used to put on the high shelves. What kinds of changes did you experience through your carrier since you have been working for the library?

We used to have a big collection of music books, that is gone. The CD’s we don’t have them anymore. The internet is a great substitute for that. So a decrease of physical books and an increase of digital content. And what I find very fascinating is that we organise meetings. I find it very interesting that people use the library as a third place. Like the sociologist Ray Oldenburg sees it, that people really need a third place next to work and their homes. And I think that we underestimate the importance of physically sharing knowledge and the physical interaction between people. We see that people like to talk to each other about books or meet each other at library cafe. They like meeting people that think a like. I think that might be a role for the library in the future. Do you see an increase in the use of the library as a a 3rd place? Or was it already uses as a 3rd place in the past?

My intuition says that it has increased and is still increasing. What you see in our current time, for example, is ongoing individualisation. People don’t spend as much time as they did earlier in constructs like family or school. Life now is less space oriented. You can also have digital contact and interactions with people. It might be that the library is a spot, where there can still be contact with people. I think that there is a huge need for contact. People, who want to learn something, they find that space over here to develop themselves and meet other people.

INTERVIEW Nº 03 / 07 CILIA GROOTHUIS

RAY OLDENBURG

L E

2 2

N I S

M E

DE W IT TE DA M

What do you think about the future role of the library? Does it have to change into a social space, as you mentioned or should it focus on the digitalisation of books or does it still need the physical values?

The library is not a house with books or a house with people. I think the library is more like a community. This building is one of the elements of the community, like a webpage, where people can meet. The building is a spot, where people can meet physically, a sort of platform. What do you think the library is going to be like in 40 years?

Then it will not be a library as we know it now. Artificial intelligence will play a role. And there will be inventions or technological improvements or developments that will have a great impact. I think that there will be a lot of people, who won’t catch this train. For whom all this technology is too complex, it will divide the society, and maybe even humanity. That is something, which puzzles me a lot. How will this change the communication factor between the readers and the librarians?

We will communicate with with social media more. It is more like creating the library together with inhabitants of Eindhoven. People tell us that knowledge they want to share about what subject they want to talk and on twitter we react enthusiastically, for example we write this would be interesting for this person and she also interacts in the twitter conversation and the workshop is created by the public. We have this project called the ‘kennismakers’, where we give people, who like to share their knowledge and experience and to tell about something a platform. They can use our theatre room and we can publish about it. They also gain some publicity by using our facebook page, so that it creates an even bigger community and has a ‘sneeuwbal effect’ as we call it. A snowball effect. How often does this event take place?

Very often, twice a week. Do you think that the library of Eindhoven has a big impact on the citizens from the town?

We have impact and meaning but not much as I would like to see. We reach a lot of children, actually almost all children in Eindhoven, with our libraries in schools. But it is a pity that we don’t reach everyone. A lot of our buildings in the city were closed and we have only one building left. Although we have a large digital surface and a large delivery service which delivers books at home, people still have to log on to the library website. I think that for a large group of people that is not the best alternative. Especially for elderly people. Is this the only library in Eindhoven? Or do you also havesmaller locations?

Not anymore, they all closed. We had about ten libraries. Now there are burger bibliotheken, those are totally organised by people that live in the neighbourhoods where the library is. Second hand books are lend out and people just exchange books. It is more like a book crossing principle. You give books away that you read.

INTERVIEW Nº 03 / 07 CILIA GROOTHUIS

Is the library of Eindhoven collaborating with those libraries?

Yes, because we deliver our books at the burger bibliotheken, so you don’t have to pay for the transportation, you just pay a small reservation fee: 50 cents for a book and we deliver books there and people could bring them back to the burger bibliotheken and we will pick them up over there. People don’t know that, and it is my task to tell Eindhoven that that is possible as well. People want to look, feel and smell the books.

BURGER BIBLIOTHEKEN

Do you think that digitalisation is a good development or do you prefer the physical aspect of a book?

I like books because of the design, cover and I like holding them in my hands, but in the end it is the content that touches me. I don’t really think in terms of good or bad. It is just as it is. That is what progress is about. What is your typical role in the library?

It is my mission to make sure that development is within everyones reach. That is my mission. I want people to be able to get the information and knowledge that they need to be able to participate in our society society. I want people to have the skills and to have access to whatever is needed to develop themselves. That is my main goal. So everything I do everyday are concrete actions to send out that message and to meet people that share that mission. People who also think that is important. I would like to increase the network and the community of the library. I would like to make my colleagues enthusiastic about this mission and about our slogan which is: ‘development for everyone and the whole city benefits’. Everything I do is to get closer to this goal. I contact the press about events, I write a lot of texts for the media, I inform my colleagues about everything that is organised in the library and what they need to know to do their work as well as they can. With my colleagues I made a movie about the mission of the library. I have contact with the National Library Organisation, and now about the National Library Congress that is coming to Eindhoven.

NATIONAL LIBRARY ORGANISATION NATIONAL LIBRARY CONGRESS

What is the National Library Congress going to be about?

It is mostly about the future of the library. It is always about looking forward and showing new trends in the library field. When it is held in Eindhoven, you can be sure that it is going to be about innovation. Which role is the library going to play in the digital world?

IN E DU SP LA TC IRE YO H D UT DE BY W SI TH AS GN E ER

I hope that we will take a role in making people media safe. A new term that is used is content curator. There is a lot of information and people want someone to value the information. I think we may have a part in that and could play a role. Maybe we could educate people and children when it comes to abilities to digital literacy. I think that will help people not to miss the train. I found that may be a risk for the society that some people just won’t get it and maybe the library could help to play a role facilitating that, like a hub to other organisations.

CILIA GROOTHUIS INTERVIEW Nº 03 / 07

“JAPANESE WAS MY DREAM AS A CHILD” MELINDA KÓNYA

SUBJECT LIBRARIAN AT THE NATIONAL LIBRARY IN THE HAGUE

Since 2011 Melinda Kónya works as a subject librarian at the National Library in Den Haag. In the following pages she tells about her daily profession and her passion for the Japanese language.

ROYAL LIBRARY LEIDSE BOEKJES ONLINE GENERAL CATALOGUE UNIVERSITY OF LEIDEN PIETER STEINZ

You are subject librarian modern languages and the classics. Could you tell me more about your work?

Yes, I am a subject librarian, and I am responsible for the library’s collections on modern languages and the classics. My task is to ensure that these collections are developed, interpreted and managed effectively. The Royal Library has collection specialists on several academic disciplines like history, law, Dutch language and literature, arts, social sciences and of course the special collections. Our librarian subject specialists provide a wide range of services, including collection assessment and development. Preservation of the existing physical collections is my main task. Next I acquire material in my subject kept on the open shelves in the reading rooms. These are books, newspapers, magazines and international scientific publications on language and literature. Nowadays it is important that the customer has, next to our physical collections, access to as much digital content as possible. Therefore the online resources I provide are very important. The future is the realisation of the national digital library where the customer has access to all digital content, freely accessible.

ROYAL LIBRARY

What do you think of digitisation? Do you think that it is a good way for the libraries to go?

Digital is the growing standard for use. As a national library, the KB collects and preserves everything that was ever published in or about the Netherlands, from the period of handwritten books, to printed and digital books. During the past few years an important amount of the published, textual heritage of the KB and other institutions from across the nation was digitised and made available on various websites for texts or images. We would like to increase the available amount of digital content, but we have to take into consideration the legal restrictions as well. In terms of copyrights we work together with other national and international library organisations. It is a long process which started years ago and will continue in the future. What is the physical space and physical importance of the library of the future?

The physical interior of a library will change. I think that the open shelves in the reading rooms will be reduced. Instead study corners will be created, a new environment will be realised with computer facilities where virtual books and web expositions can be presented. The library will include a range of possibilities to the whole population to gain knowledge and information. What do you think are the main differences between the past and the present of a library as you experienced through your carrier?

Our cataloguing system for the library was completely different from now. We had a complete alphabetical catalogue. Readers were able to consult alphabetical and systematic registers of the library in the form of bound catalogue cards, known as Leidse boekjes.

LEIDSE BOEKJES

MELINDA KÓNYA INTERVIEW Nº 04 / 07

The first automation project started in the 1970’s and finally resulted in the Online General Catalogue of the National Library of The Netherlands. Our work changed completely. It has been and it still is an interesting and challenging period in our working life. Sometimes it goes so quickly, we can hardly follow the development, but it is necessary and possible.

ONLINE GENERAL CATALOGUE

What do you think about future role of the librarian?

In the future the librarian will be an all-round information specialist. Not only does he offer physical and digital resources, he also has to support scholars in researching these resources efficiently. The task of an librarian is getting broader and broader. In which way should the library change in order not to lose her value in the digital era?

Digitising will increase the value of a library. The library has to stay responsible for the physical collections, and also to make sure that the number of digital collections is growing. We must realize that the function of a library increases year by year. How will the libraries of the future be in 40 years and in 100 years?

I think that in 40 years you will be able to sit at home behind your computer and be able to search any information in digitized text collections (books, newspapers, magazines other material). And how will it be in 100 years, I don’t know. That is beyond my imagination. It is too far away. How do you make use of your enormous knowledge on languages in your daily work?

In my work I receive material in several languages. It is convenient that I speak languages belonging to different language families. During my life I had to deal with a couple of languages. As you know, I am Hungarian born in Romania, so as a child I spoke Hungarian and Romanian. At an early stage I started learning German and English. Of course that was very important. By coincidence, I ended up in the Netherlands were I started learning Japanese language. So these are six languages which I speak and understand. I know a little bit of Russian and of course I understand some of French. Why Japanese?

Japanese was my dream as a child. I was fascinated by the country and the culture.Studying Japanese in Romania in the 1970’s was not possible of course, and when I finally arrived in the Netherlands, I immediately registered at the university for Japanese language and literature. How many years did it take for you to study the language?

I have been studying for six years and I have been in Japan twice. The first time for a whole year and the second time for my job for a couple of months. I worked at projects for the Japanese state TV NHK, for five years, which was quite interesting. In 1993, when my son was born, I was not able to travel for my work anymore, so I went back to the library at the University of Leiden as a volunteer, and that is where my librarian carrier started. Two years later I started working at the National Library, and I have been working here for sixteen years now.

INTERVIEW Nº 04 / 07 MELINDA KÓNYA

UNIVERSITY OF LEIDEN

Did you also start as a collection specialist?

No, I started at the cataloging department and then I continued at the acquisition department, Since 2011 I work as a subject librarian. How important is the contact between the library and the customer?

In order to help the customer find the necessary information, we need to know what he is looking for, how easily he can get access to our collection and how satisfied he is with the result. Therefore a continuous and good contact is absolutely necessary. What do you think about the online Google library?

As Google is the first place where people search for information, it is important to offer a library page. A cooperation exist between our library with Google Books. What do you think about the cultural heritage in the Digital Age?

By digitisation of cultural heritage the whole population can get free access to various websites for texts and images which are highly valuable. One of the main tasks of the National Library is to take care of the cultural heritage of the nation. In the Netherlands we have wonderful websites, where the Dutch cultural heritage can be studied. What is the ultimate book in your opinion?

There are so many! I would like to mention the recent publication of Pieter Steinz Gids voor de wereld iteratuur (Guide to world literature). Fantastic book!

PIETER STEINZ

What are the most important aspects of a good collection?

With my choice of physical and digital publications I would like to provide an excellent overview of the history of world literature.

THE LAYOUT WAS INSPIRED BY MINIMALISTIC JAPANESE GRAPHIC DESIGN

MELINDA KÓNYA INTERVIEW Nº 04 / 07

I S E

, s

N E E H OV T T DH A N N I E IA Y R A EM R LIB CAD A N G

s s e Y ig b a !

S E E

E I V

E P

S R

E I P

SCIENTIFIC LIBRARIES CATALOGUE SYSTEM INTERMEDIATE

Since 1992, Evie Piepers has been the librarian at the Design Academy Eindhoven. In the following interview she shares her thoughts about the library and the changes. Which kind of changes did you experienced through your career as a librarian?

I am not a big fan from the digitalisation, because I really value the medium of books. I do believe in its unique qualities. Scientific libraries are different. So I cannot speak for all libraries.

SCIENTIFIC LIBRARIES

What are the main differences between the past and the present?

One of the main differences between the past and the present is the catalogue system. The digitalisation from it is a good thing. The old system worked with paper cards. I started in 1992, so at that time it was not done yet so we had to do it immediately.

CATALOGUE SYSTEM

What do you think about the definition from the librarian as cybrarian?

The physical stuff is what people need! The amount of information is enormous. In the digital environment you find only the things, that you know / you are looking for but in the real world you also find unexpected things. If people make a publication, they put a lot of effort in it, it is all about communication with the reader. In the digital world people don’t read in that way. They only take pieces. Then it is not really about developing your thinking. You cannot follow a line of thoughts. What do you think about the future role of the librarian?

I think in the way that people will realise that library is about selection and librarian has the key role. You can trust the collection to be interesting for you. Nowadays people are overvaluing the digitalisation aspects. I hope that we are not machines and I hope we will never turn into machines. That would be really bad. I also think a library, as a place is important, it is a place with a very special atmosphere. For example, you meet people there and even if you don’t talk to people, you see that they are coming to this particular place, you share that, that is one of the aspects that makes the place. Which new requests will ask the future from the librarian?

Maybe even defending its value! The value of books, of reading, of critical thinking. How will the library of the future be? In 40 years? In 100 years?

I always take it from now. 100 Years, that’s a lot i’m not making speculations on that.

EVIE PIEPERS INTERVIEW Nº 05 / 07

“I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF DIGITALISATION BECAUSE I REALLY VALUE THE MEDIUM OF BOOKS”

Would we need libraries in the future?

Yesss, a big YES! How has the relationship (communication factor) between the readers and the librarian changed through the years?

It did not really changed that much. The collection has grown, so we have a bigger variety of things. The encyclopaedia is not used so much anymore. Facts and photographs are taken from the Internet. In the past people tend to cut out images from books. I really had to take care of that. How important is the social contact between the librarian and the user?

The social contact is also very important for me to be able to make the right choices in building the collection. I wouldn’t be able to judge the large amount of publications that appear all the time if I didn’t know the users of the library and its needs so well, it is really very essential. You could call it the role of an intermediate between the collection and the user which works in both directions. With my knowledge of the collection I can help the users find what they need. The users also help me, I do get key information on their specific needs and approach, so I will be able to make the right decisions for the further development of the collection. What are your typical roles and work fields of a librarian?

My roles are to build the collection of the library and make it accessible for everyone, to make descriptions, add codes and keywords in the system. Another part of the job are the proceedings that have to do with the loan of books. You have to know what is going on in the field, to be able to order the right books and classify them. Create connections with other people from bookstores and other librarians to get to know their collections. Of course you need to know sources online and analog to help with all that. What roles are the librarians are going to play in the Internet environment and in a virtual library?

Other librarians in the scientific and business world are searching for data for their customers. It is valuable information that represents a lot of money, the amount of information is huge.

THE LAYOUT WAS INSPIRED BY CONTEMPORARY GRAPHIC DESIGN

EVIE PIEPERS INTERVIEW Nº 05 / 07

BALÁZS BODÓ ECONOMIST AND PIRACY RESEARCHER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM

NO SINGLE MODUS OPERANDI OF PIRATE LIBRARIES EXIST

CREATIVE COMMONS HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY SILENT LIBRARY PROJECT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LEGISLATION MODUS OPERANDI RENAISSANCE COLLABORATIVE ENTERPRISE

Balázs Bodó, PhD is an economist and a piracy researcher at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam, who investigated an intensive research of 3 years on pirate libraries. In this interview he tells about how they operate and their impact on the society.

How did you decide to do an intensive research of 3 years on the pirate libraries?

The creative commons country lead in Hungary to be implemented in creative commons licenses into the Hungarian internet, but after doing creative commons and open access work for a while I realised, that the creative commons is a wonderful solution, but not for the problems, but not for the Hungarian digital culture have. So it is a nice tool, but it’s not for the particular issues that replace back in Hungary deep problem. There wasn’t many reusable content and people. The problem wasn’t that there many creative people, who wanted to have access to content for remix purposes; but the real issue was there was no access in the first place. Just to illustrate this, I have talked to a friend of mine, who has been the head librarian of one of the universities in Budapest and she told me that at the time, she didn’t have the budget to buy new books for three years. How also there was a very serious access problem and creative commons was not going to solve that. Unlike pirates, who where doing very serious welcome meeting in access to go without limitations. So my attention shifted to this phenomenom, because I felt that this is were the impact is.

CREATIVE COMMONS

Since when have they been existing?

Quite some time ago. I knew that there was a very early hungarian community silent library project, which digitalised books in Hungary. I bombed into them quite early and I was doing work on what they were doing back then more than ten years ago. As different other pirate libraries emerged I tried to follow them. What my main question of my work is: what is the role of pirates in the cultural ecosystem? What kind of task they are fulfilling? What is the in relationship with all the other members or stakeholders in that domain, with the readers, the publishers, the intermediaries, the authors, the remixers and so on? I tried to gather empirical evidence on their impact within the culture.

HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY SILENT LIBRARY PROJECT

How are those sites operating? Does everybody has access to upload books and publications or only the organisers from the pirate libraries?

It depends, because what you see there is wide variation of different approaches within the piracy scene and that’s possible because the there a very few limitations on how things should be done. This is a fundamental change; recently the legal alternatives are confined by technological, economic and legal constrains. So the load dates which kind of rights can and should be licensed in which matter, economical constrains dictate which approaches are profitable and which approaches are not; a technological solution optimised to support this business and legal constrains. Pirate do not have any of these. So they exist under different constrains or under different laws. They are not bound by intellectual property legislations, they are not bound by profit expectations. So they are

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LEGISLATION

BALÁZS BODÓ INTERVIEW Nº 05 / 07

free to experiment with different approaches, different business models, different operational models and that is the point. There is no single modus operandi of pirate libraries. There are many approaches. If you like there is a competition between these different approaches in turns of survival and catalogues, sizes and accessibility and so on.

MODUS OPERANDI

What is their impact on traditional institutions in developing countries? How are they influencing universities and libraries?

This question should be answered by the case back cases. There are some general things, that one can not notice, that there seem to be many access gaps of scientific text in both developing and developed countries. And of course pirate libraries fill in those gaps in accessibility. In that sense there are the most important vehicles of knowledge transfer in the history of mankind. I think that nowhere before, have such a massive flow of knowledge and information from the highly developed centres to the peripheral centres and that is excellent. And whatever impact is on the knowledge producers I strongly believe that those receiving those knowledge find it immensely profitable on the societally level to have access to those things. I just read a news article, which talked about of the devaluation of the Russian Rubel. The Russian State is unable to pay for the subscription of scientific journals and Russian higher education and the academic sphere, lose access to scientific journal all together because the google collapsed. If that happens then if it weren’t for the shadow libraries or pirate libraries Russia would lose access to the science. This is in no ones interest. No one should be denied access to knowledge. So I think that this their impact, there are able to bridge short problems and maybe long term structure problems with access to knowledge. And that you can not simply underestimate of that. How are the pirate libraries are going to develop in the future? How is it going to be in ten years?

I think piracy in general, black market develop where is a problem with illegal alternatives and this applies to books as much as to drugs or sex. If there is some limitation on, there is a discrepancy and supply and demand, and there is a demand which is not supplied legally, then the black market will emmerge to full fill the demand. What I expect is that the access is not solved in a propionate manner then pirate libraries will flourish. What kind of shape they will take will reflect the problems with access on the site. It may be because of the journal access collapse, for example in Russia then probably pirate libraries will focus on the providing access to journal and articles rather than books, what they are doing now. So I believe that on the short term there may be such a reaction. On the long will see the legal market develops and the scientific publishing market involves and what every shape they take pirate libraries will follow that and try to compliment the missing pieces. What do you think about the future of the libraries?

When I see that there is a renaissance of libraries. Libraries are full and rightly strong, because there are the last non commercialised public spaces, where people can go just meet without obligation consume or to do something. So there are very important institutions in the society, but they face very serious challenges in turns to provide services to their patrons. They are very important, 40

INTERVIEW Nº 06 / 07 BALÁZS BODÓ

RENAISSANCE

but they are limited by the economical intellectual property roles to fulfill their mission in 21st century. That mission is to let people lend books electronically at any time and any point of earth. If somebody is a library subscriber he or she should be able to lend the book from home to her device. But that is not that straight forward and such a lending rights are such a tool right holder improver. Right holders, publishers are relay to grand that right to libraries, because they are afraid of what will happen to their sells, what will happen to their traditional business models. Fair enough, but this means that the libraries are having difficult time transforming themselves in to the 21st century. It is important to take a look to pirate libraries, because they may understand what might be the ideal future for the library. So pirate libraries are done by the readers. They are collaborative enterprise from the reader by the reader. If you want to see, how the ideal library is imagined you should take a look at the pirate libraries. The statement is that we can collaboratively build libraries and libraries can be pure produced. So I think that beyond the trivial things of proving unlimited access, the other important thing for a library is that library it can be purely produced. And there is an immerse amount of resources at the users site at the users homes and computers and time and effort and energy that can be mobilised in order to produce the library and that can be done and should be done. We have to create the hospitable legal environment to host that kind of preproduction of the library.

COLLABORATIVE ENTERPRISE

Which topic are you researching currently?

Many topics at once. I am still working on a large data set from one of the pirate libraries trying to understand, how I can explain the differences between the taste of different countries in terms of what kind of books did they download. Sooner or later I will publish this research.

THE LAYOUT WAS INSPIRED BY PIRATE LIBRARIES

BALÁZS BODÓ INTERVIEW Nº 06 / 07

PAPER versus

DIGITAL

KARIN KWAST LIBRARIAN AT THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN EINDHOVEN

Since 2008 is Karin Kwast the librarian at the Technical University library. In the following lines she tells her discoveries about the slowly shift from paper to digital. Which kind of changes have you experienced through your carrier as a librarian?

I started working as a librarian in 2008 and since that time I saw a slow shift from paper to digital. But I don’t think that everything will become digital. For some subjects it just easier to have an actual book to browse through. What are the main differences between the past and the present?

Since e-books became more and more common the TU/e library has made it a policy to buy e-books where possible instead of physical copies. What do you think about the future definition of the librarian as cybrarian?

I havent heard of the term cybrarian before. What do you think about the the future role from the librarian?

I think the change from paper to digital will continue, questions that we will get as librarians will be less about on what shelf can I find this book and more about where online can I find information about this subject. How will the library of the future be? In 40 years? In 100 years?

The university library as a physical location will become more a place to study and less a place to borrow books. How does it change the relationship (communication factor) through the years between the readers and the librarian?

I haven’t seen that much change since I started working as librarian we get questions at the library desk by phone and through email and nowadays we sent twitter messages to inform our users about changed opening hours for holidays. In which way will the library have to change so that it does not lose it’s values in the digital era?

Librarians have a big role to play to prevent information overload. Our job of making it easier to find information hasn’t changed only the media in which the information presented is changing.

KARIN KWAST INTERVIEW Nº 07 / 07

How important is the social contact between the librarian and the user?

The more the librarian is visible the more people will approach and ask questions. What are your typical roles and work fields of the librarian?

My main role is working for the Frontoffice. This is the team that works at the library desk, here we answer questions in person by phone and through email, we make sure the library looks tidy, and have other more administrative tasks. We also have a backoffice with different departments one department is responsible for all journal and ebook subscriptions. Another department gives education in information skills, A department responsible for the catalogue and one for focus a database, where people can search through the whole library collection including separate journal articles. What roles are the librarians going to play in the internet environment and in a virtual library?

We already have a digital library this is not a new thing. And we will keep making sure that information is accessible.

THE LAYOUT WAS INSPIRED BY THE PLAY BETWEEN PAPER AND DIGITAL MEDIA

KARIN KWAST INTERVIEW Nยบ 07 / 07

® ZALÁN SZAKÁCS 2015