The Dynamic Library: Organizing Knowledge at the Sitterwerk―Precedents and Possibilities

by Ariane Roth (Editor)

The Dynamic Library  presents essays in translation from an interdisciplinary symposium on the classification and organization of knowledge held at Sitterwerk, St. Gallen in Switzerland. Home to over 25,000 volumes on art, architecture, design, and photography, the Sitterwerk's Kunstbibliothek (art library) began with the bequest of book collector and connoisseur Daniel Rohner (1948–2007). The question of how to systematically organize this idiosyncratic collection into a publicly accessible library was a fundamental concern, and a solution was found in a dynamic system of organization powered by RFID technology, which relies on digital tracking. The essays gathered in  The Dynamic Library  contextualize the Sitterwerk's associative classification system amid artistic and historical systems of order while pointing to future methods for incorporating subjectivity and serendipity into the organization of knowledge.

Genres: Nonfiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2015

Reviews

[Jon Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting collection of writings that made me think more closely about how best to organize knowledge to make it more useful and promote the generation of new ideas. Made me think more critically about how I organize my own collection of books :)