Librarian in the Underground What Academic Libraries Can Learn from DIY Culture
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Solomon Blaylock and Declan Ryan Librarian in the underground What academic libraries can learn from DIY culture See yourself as the pilot of an elabo- crisscrossing North America every day. We’ve rate spacecraft in unfamiliar territory. walked in both pairs of shoes, and we’re con- If you freeze, tense up, refuse to look vinced. We can sum it up in three letters: DIY. at what is in front of you, you will crack up the ship. On the other hand, So what is DIY? DO IT YOURSELF! credulity and uncritical receptivity are Unless you’ve got a rich uncle or write the almost as dangerous. kind of music that’s going to end up play- —William S. Burroughs, Ah Pook Is Here ing in a Gap changing room you’re going to need to bust your hump as a musician. You cademic library professionals are now don’t play a few club gigs, get discovered Ain uncharted territory. We’re hurtling and signed, and ease into a life of destroying through unfamiliar, rapidly shifting land- expensive hotel rooms. You’re going to haul scapes. Information storage and retrieval, your own amps, replace your own strings, scholarly publishing, information literacy: drive your own vehicle into the ground, eat everything’s changing on a daily basis. Get $1 meals, sweat it out under broken lights hung up on any one thing, and you’re already at clubs with all of three people in the au- working in the past. Allow yourself to be dience, play on the same grimy basement overwhelmed and you’re paralyzed. floor you’ll be sleeping on later. It’s a feeling not unfamiliar to the inde- And it’s awesome. Because in addition to pendent musician. You’re on the road in be- meeting great people and forming lifelong tween shows, it’s the middle of the night, and friendships, you’ll get to see faces light up in you’ve got no money for anything but gas. excitement, hear great music, visit amazing So you spend the night in a parking garage places, and generally take part in a nonstop in Savannah and head out the next morning adventure, satisfied in the knowledge that to a gig that’s a series of question marks. you were willing to do it yourself. Did the club owner do any promotion? Will That’s DIY in a nutshell. You’ve got some- they honor your piddling guarantee? Will the thing to do, and you make it happen. You. sound guy be an utter jerk? Will the mics be properly grounded or are you going to get Solomon Blaylock is section supervisor-reserves, email: a mini-tazer jolt right in the face every time [email protected], and Declan Ryan is you lean in to address the audience? library assistant, email: [email protected], at the University of Rochester River Campus Libraries Believe it or not, librarians can learn a lot from the ragtag legion of troubadours © 2017 Solomon Blaylock and Declan Ryan C&RL News June 2017 312 Make it happen. DIY, though, isn’t some sort brought front and center by means of pop- of Randian, look-out-for-number-one scene up programming both within and without —independent musicians all over the world the library building.2 We have to invest the embrace an ethic of self-reliance undergirded time and energy into these kinds of activities by inclusivity and integrity that creates tight- if we expect our patrons to know what we knit communities in cities, suburbs, and rural can do for them. outposts alike. You’ve just got to be willing The fundamental widening of the gate- to make it happen. ways for information search have obvious We believe this spirit is just what’s needed parallels in the modern models of entertain- in the 21st-century academic library. We’ve ment distribution. As transactional models all heard the line at a party or even from a of sharing content (movie and live event skeptical faculty member or student: What tickets) have been upended by subscription- do we need libraries for now that we have based models (Netflix, Spotify, etc), the old the Internet?1 We know good and well that gatekeepers of this content find that they we do a hell of a lot of stuff that nobody must compete with a broad spectrum of knows how to do better than us. Who’s services for their prospective patrons’ time better than us at digital asset management; and attention. We know that what we do navigating and putting to effective use an is fundamentally better than a packaged or array of electronic and physical resources; automated alternative for a number of rea- ensuring that these resources are available sons—the trick is getting everyone else to next month, year, decade; getting academic understand the reasons why this is true. The work done? This is what we do. But just like only way to do this is to bring the message with music, doing is only half the battle. To to the people. extend a metaphor, nobody’s going to do our promotion for us, nobody’s going to pass out All in together our flyers, book our tour dates, or get the Smart and energetic promotion are impor- crowds into the venues. We’ve got to meet tant to spreading any message, but they people where they are and show them what should always supplement the cultivation we can do for them. It’s up to us. of real relationships. DIY communities are For independent musicians who want to established and maintained through one- get the word out about their music, the time- on-one interactions—an offer of a couch to tested method is the tour. For most of us this crash on after a show, a local printing hook- has meant setting each show up in each town up, a friend of a friend whose band can sup- by means of several calls, emails, and texts; port a bill. Similarly there’s no substitute for working to do what promotion you can from face-to-face interaction in libraries, whether a distance; hustling your own merchandise we’re providing research support, working after each show; etc. It’s a lot of work, but on a grant proposal, or soliciting feedback. how else would anyone know about you or The personal relationships we form as in- what you do? The same goes for those of us dividual members of an organization grow in libraries. Forget sitting behind a desk all and overlap to form a network of colleagues day and waiting for people to come to you. and patrons with whom we collaborate in You’re going to be waiting a long time. Like, order to support the teaching and learning forever. Outreach is an indispensable part of missions of our parent institutions. work in the modern academic library, and Our communities must be inclusive. This not just for traditional reference librarians. is as imperative for the independent musi- The Access Services department at Rutgers’ cian as for the modern library professional. George F. Smith Library of the Health Sci- The principles we embody3 include a com- ences has provided a good example of how mitment to diverse representation. This is traditionally passive library services can be more than just providing a space in which all June 2017 313 C&RL News participants are treated equally. Neutrality in cians is the ability to deal with sudden and the face of inequality guarantees the mainte- dramatic change, on scales small and large. nance of the status quo.4 We have to make A house show gets cancelled at the last room for voices that have been and continue minute, the bass player’s amp shorts out, the to be marginalized. In a DIY music space, opening act doesn’t bring a drum kit, mix- this involves making real, ongoing efforts at ing the album is taking twice as long as you booking bands from diverse backgrounds5 planned. You can get all worked up about it and ensuring that vulnerable community or you can correct course and keep moving members are physically safe at shows.6 In forward. As Swans alum Thor Harris ob- libraries it means actively working to diversify serves: “Whining is tour cancer. If something the members of our profession so that we’re is wrong fix it or shut the … up.”9 Inconve- properly representing the populations we niences and the way we reroute our days serve. It means reworking our spaces and around them are the forge of temperament. programming so that traditionally marginal- But there are meso- and macroscales to ized community members feel a genuine this upheaval, as well. The crash-and-burn sense of belonging and participation. of the recorded music industry at the start Make no mistake, we live in times when of the millennium represents a mesoscale these inclusive values are under attack.7 We change that DIY’ers have found new ways cannot afford simply to affirm often toothless to navigate. On the macroscale, the genera- “commitments to diversity.” We need action. tional shift away from rock music in general Last year Katy Mathuews of Ohio University’s presents new and larger challenges that we Alden Library issued a direct challenge to believe can only be faced with a deep com- those of us in the library profession to put our mitment to inclusiveness and artistry. The money where our mouth is: “Often...libraries fractal web of troubles that faces us in the choose to express the commitment to diver- ivory tower is geometrically similar to the sity and social justice through diversity initia- one our DIY brethren must brave, even if tives that are too simplistic to achieve true the specifics are different.