Is There a Text in This Library? History of the Book and Digital Continuity

Abstract

This essay argues for the importance of the study of production, distribution, and the cultural impact of texts for digital librarianship. An argument is made for integrating historical viewpoints in coursework that can prepare master's library and information science (MLIS) students for the curatorial aspects of digital librarianship. Several components of that approach are discussed in this essay. Their application in the classroom using a course on American bestsellers which involved collaborative teaching using the Internet as a case study, is presented as well. This paper reveals how book historians may find new roles as interpreters of the transformation of the library, from a logocentric library, which traditionally provides a fixed physical framework within which texts are accessible to users, to a soft library delivered on distributed servers - as a knowledge continuum. The emergence of new modes of textual transmission, the changing concept of the text, and the need to create new social spaces in which texts are collected and used can benefit from an awareness of the production, distribution, and use of text in traditional media environments.