AO: This brief excerpt from a mainstream media newspaper article (digital, no less) speaks of the affective relationship the author has to the library and archives through his sense of smell. It also speaks to the community that develops in/around a physical space like the library.
...But the smell inside a library-any library, the smell of old flaky pages, or the sawdust-fresh of newly unpacked books has remained unchanged.
...
Experts suggest that the resilience of the traditional library in the digital age hinges on the human need for community. “There is a sense of networking and even ownership,” says Anne Wangui, a librarian with the Rural Reading Centre, a private-owned community library network that offers free library services in non-traditional settings-villages and other places where reading centres are unlikely to be found. “The community becomes part of the learning process."
