Three teenagers are break-dancing in the courtyard of a government building in Medellín, Colombia. A boom box blares hip-hop — pure bass against the concrete walls. A dozen other teens sit cross-legged or lean against backpacks. Johana Pabon stands near the building’s glass entryway staring at the break-dancers, arms crossed, hips thrust sideways, eyes narrowed. Her tight smile, though, shows unmistakable pride. “They have this space,” she says. “They can use it whenever they want.” Pabon is a docent at the Parque Biblioteca San Javier, which opened in 2006 — one of nine ... Read More
Nixon’s Presidential Library: The Last Battle of Watergate
December 8, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Should the National Archives be in the business of presenting objective public history at the nation’s presidential libraries? Or should the private organizations that fund many of these institutions be able to lionize their man in the White House? In an exclusive from the upcoming issue of Miller-McCune magazine, learn how the fractious new partnership between the Archives and the foundation intent on rehabilitating Richard Nixon’s legacy has become the issue’s ... Read More
Having a Nose for Degraded Documents
March 9, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Ever wondered why your grandfather's cherished, dog-eared copy of Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire smells like that? Or why the Declaration of Independence retains the unmistakable musk of 1776? At long last, scientists have developed a "sniff test" to measure the telltale aroma of old books and irreplaceable historical documents. You know the smell — that "combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness," as the authors put it. Inhale and smell the Industrial Revolution! In a recent edition of the American Chemical ... Read More
New Libraries Revitalize Cities
March 2, 2010 • By • 10 Comments
A new library is being planned for the center of Aarhus, Denmark's main port city. It will certainly contain books on shelves. Beyond that, it will not resemble the hushed and stately central libraries of the past. In fact, it is referred to not as a library but an "urban mediaspace." The building will include flexible conference and project rooms, multimedia learning labs, performance venues, studios for artists and business startups, a shop, a cafe, a tram station and government-service offices where patrons can, for example, apply for social security. Its design competition envisioned "a ... Read More
