S(h)elf reflection: How we brought the print book back into the library space
Creators: name: Nuijten, Anouk
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: project Re:Book
print collection
community-building
physical library
collection curation

description: Nowadays, many university libraries are home to large print collections that rarely leave the stack rooms. Project Re:Book (Omboeken), which ran from September 2021 until December 2023, was initiated at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam to give these books a second life. The goal of the project was to find innovative ways to repurpose our print collections by experimenting with the value of books for the university community. Through inspiring, confronting and decorating, our aim was to return the book to the physical space. I will present the results of project Re:Book and share our experiences in analysing our paper collection, collaborating with various partners and fostering community building.

The project was divided in three main pillars: 1) books and their contents as a source of inspiration; 2) books as the starting point for social activities; and 3) the book as object. Each of these elements relied upon the successful execution of the first pillar, which consisted of the analysis of our print collections. By experimenting with different computational tools and criteria, we developed workflows for (de)selecting print books and journals from our collections. We successfully curated nine new thematic libraries and inspirational collections, such as the Pride Library, the Mindful Library, collections around the Sustainable Development Goals and the DecolonisationLab. I will outline the different approaches we employed to create these innovative collections, working together with different stakeholders and providing their communities with inspirational physical spaces.

These thematic libraries not only provide transdisciplinary meeting spaces for students and researchers; they also initiated the organisation of collaborative events between the library and different communities. Ranging from book launches and reading clubs to creative workshops using deselected books, these activities fostered community building and knowledge creation. Hosting these events required us to rethink our traditional use of space, leading to the transformation of our first floor into the Library Lounge. I will explore how we created an inspirational and multifunctional space and the challenges we faced in the transition from silent study space to lively living room.

Finally, I will share how we successfully explored the value of the book as an object as opposed to a source of information. In a series of workshops, organised with our ART SCIENCE Gallery and Open Science division, students, together with an art collective, designed new objects using books. Some of the artworks were placed in the Library Lounge, thereby returning the deselected books in a new, unexpected form to their home to provide an inspiring environment. Others will be installed in a different building on campus, where together with a Little Free Library and furniture constructed from deselected books they will form the Library Corner. By creating this unique meeting space in a science building largely dependent upon digital sources, we invite renewed interaction with print books in unconventional ways. In sharing how project Re:Book has changed how we shape our library spaces and collections, this paper invites librarians to rethink the relationships between print books, diverse communities and physical spaces.