Christine Ryu
INFO266
Mattern, S. (2014). Library as Infrastructure. Places-a Forum of Environmental Design. https://doi.org/10.22269/140609
This article focuses on the different capacities the library has served and continues to serve the community. It begins by describing the contribution of Melvil Dewey and how he created the first library school at Columbia College. Mattern compares the library to a platform-a term used by developers to mean a base where new applications, technologies, and processes are created. While this is a great metaphor for the library as a place of innovation and collaboration, Mattern points out the problems with the platform model. One such problem is the two-dimensional stage where, "resources are laid out for users to do stuff with" (2014). The library is also looked at as infrastructure, especially for its function in times of disasters and more recently, the COVID pandemic. Libraries, as reported by Mattern, are "ever evolving" infrastructures beyond architectural (but that is included) and our thinking of libraries in that way can assist us in better identifying "what roles we want our libraries to serve, and what we can reasonably expect of them" (2014). The different social and symbolic function of libraries is explored and how libraries have historically been the place where social and informational structures intersect.
This article is great because it breaks down the different transformations the library has fluidly passed through in order to meet the ever-changing needs of the community. Libraries are no longer just a building that houses books, even the physical structure of libraries are changing to reflect the needs of the community, namely spaces for information communities to meet and exchange ideas. Mattern uses an apt, if not flawed metaphor of the library as a platform, especially as it ties in with today’s technology dependence.
