Cycling and libraries – A reflective inquiry of selected metaphoras
Yet another epic photo by Jonas Tana
One of the (numerous) frequently asked questions to us Cycling for libraries -organiser has been: why bicycles and libraries? What is the connection between these two, seemingly unrelated things?
Any connection might be hard to see. Admittedly even to us organisers Cycling for libraries was initially a semi-random mash-up, based on intuition. We couldn’t be sure what would the outcome be. However our intuition was correct, and the connection has become very clear now: bicycles and libraries represent exactly the same values. Democracy, accessibility, egalitarianism, pragmatism, efficiency, humanism, individualism, maintainability, sustainability. And movement of course.
The operation principles of bicycles and libraries are understandable to any observer, without hidden magic. Both are practical tools of travel, expanding the reaches of the body and the mind.
A cyclist and a librarian both have an intimate, two-directional dependency on their tools, the bicycle and the library. The spinning wheels form two gyroscopes, which keep the bike from falling. Two similar perpetually rotating processes in the library might be collection management and customer service. They work together as one, and travel the same path together. And like a bicycle, a library must stay on the move or it will fall.
Interestingly enough, especially public libraries also share a political history with bicycles. Both have been important tools in the emancipation processes of the labourforce, women and other oppressed groups. They are the tools of equality.
Both bicycles and libraries are easy to sympathise with. If you talk to any person in the world, they surely love both bikes and libraries… both concepts are universal and easy to understand. This easiness to sympathise with has helped us in organising the Cycling for libraries -project. Any sensitive person can imagine the connection between cycling and librarianship.
During Cycling for libraries of course also travelling and the the road itself were important symbols. The road represents the future of libraries. It is repeatedly interrupted by intersections. Each of these is a moment of a decision. By remembering the core aim (get to Berlin) and plan (follow the Ber-Cph radweg), all the decisions were easy to make. By being loyal to our own decision to ride together and keeping an eye on each other, we could guarantee that everybody reached our common goal.
Cycling for libraries was a temporary, amorphous, pop-up library-organisation with a clear goal and strategy. It was beautiful and it worked perfectly. Thank you all.
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[...] lo cree Krissy, la apasionada Bibliotecaria Ciclista. Pero los organizadores de la ruta Cycling for libraries, que transcurrió entre Copenhague y Berlín desde el 28 de mayo al 7 de junio pasados [...]
[...] Así lo cree Krissy, la apasionada Bibliotecaria Ciclista. Pero los organizadores de la ruta Cycling for libraries, que transcurrió entre Copenhague y Berlín desde el 28 de mayo al 7 de junio pasados [...]