Zine on picture: The Borough is my Library. A Greater Metropolitan Library Workers Zine. Edited by Alicia Sellie Dec 2009. Viewed at ABC No Rio Zine Library in New York Oct 2018.
Picture by Eva Olthof 2018

The Democratic Library

democratic recruitment

democratic programming

shallow hierarchie

platte organisatie

the library is never neutral

'adhocratie'

acknowledgement of inequality

everyone a learner

as an activist practice

mode of access

awareness of power structures

the community owns the record

inclusion

cultural ownership

community ownership

daily diplomacy

challenging gender stereotyping

Bread and Roses

mindmap

research

Een aantal onderzoeksvragen:

- Wat betekent het als mensen zelf een bieb of biebvorm beginnen? Wat zijn de beweegredenen van de
initiatiefnemers?

- Worden deze plekken, die democratische waarden nastreven, ook (gedeeltelijk) democratisch gerund?
Hoe ziet dat er in de praktijk uit? Welke vormen van inspraak zijn er? Is er een hiërarchie of juist niet?

- Wat drijft de vrijwilligers? Hoe zijn zij gekomen tot de keuze voor de plek waar ze actief zijn? Hoe vinden zij tijd voor het doen van onbetaald werk? Wat voor een gevoel krijgen ze bij het doen van vrijwilligerswerk? Wat drijft mijzelf om vrijwillgerswerk te doen?

- Wat is de ‘machtsbalans’ tussen de mensen die betaald in dienst zijn en de vrijwilligers?

- Met welke artistieke vormen kan ik mijn eigen ervaring en die van anderen vrijwilligers het beste vangen?
Welke artistieke vormen zijn inclusief en democratisch te noemen? Hoe kunnen we samen nieuwe beelden of vormen van documentatie van onze ervaring uitproberen? Bijvoorbeeld samen een ‘vrijwilligerszine’ maken.

volunteering

volunteering as

circular economy

communial ownership

ongoing

(institutional) transparency

lived experience recognised

support

seeing yourself reflected in institution on all levels

The Holistic Museum

equality

social justice

self-reflexive

discursive

dynamic

internal and external dialogue on values and purpose

"(...) charactartistics of feminist intersectional working: dialogistic, empathetic, brave, open, values focussed, collaborative and inclusive, innovative and organically developing coaching culture."

Patrick, A. (2018/2019) ‘Feminist Leadership: how naming and claiming the F word can lead the
cultural sector out of equalities ‘stuckness’.’ Provocation Paper, Clore Leadership Fellowship.
Glasgow, Glasgow Women’s Library.

defined and explicit statement

feminist led organisation

Bibliography (in process)

Patrick, A. (2018/2019) ‘Feminist Leadership: how naming and claiming the F word can lead the
cultural sector out of equalities ‘stuckness’.’ Provocation Paper, Clore Leadership Fellowship.
Glasgow, Glasgow Women’s Library.

Thain-Gray, R. ed. (2019) Decoding Inequality: Analysing Narratives of Inequality in Objects.
Glasgow, Glasgow Women’s Library.

Thain-Gray, R. and Patrick, A. eds. (2018) Research from a grassroots museum. Glasgow, Glasgow
Women’s Library.

Specht, M. van der Zwaard, J. (2015) De uitvinding van de Leeszaal. Amsterdam: trancity*valiz.

Solnit, R. (2021) Orwell's Roses. New York: Granta

Mende, D. (2015) The Long Loan. Return to Rightful Owner pp 50-55. Eindhoven: Onomatopee.

radically welcoming

shared perception of ownership

to be a truely democratic library does a library need to be feminist led? 

increasingly systematised

'people make it what they want it to be'

feminist leadership

feminist working

shared leadership

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challenging consumerism

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co-operative model of governance

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documenting, preserving under represented histories

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inbedded in neighbourhood

proximity

emerging questions:

what are the similarities between co-operative led and feminist led organisations? What are the differences?

membership as

mode of access

strength of weak ties

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informeel en open

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language friendly place

How does an entirely voluntary led organisation differ form a mixed voluntary and paid organisation? 

A number of research questions:

- What does it mean when people start their own library or library form? What are the reasons of the initiators?

- Are these places, which strive for democratic values, also (partially) democratically run?
What does that look like in practice? What forms of participation are there? Is there a hierarchy or not?

- What drives the involved volunteers? How did they choose the place where they are active? How do they find time to do unpaid work? How do they feel about volunteering? What drives me personally to do volunteering work?

- What is the 'balance of power' between the people who are employed and the volunteers?

- With which artistic forms can I best capture my own experience and that of other volunteers?
Which artistic forms can be called inclusive and democratic? How can we try new images or forms of documentation of our experience together? For example, making a 'volunteer zine' together.

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values focussed

Freeman, J. (1970) 'The Tyranny of Structurelessness'

Steyerl, H. 'In defence of the poor image'. In: Hito Steyerl
The Wretched of the Screen. (Berlin: Sternberg Press 2012) pp. 31-45

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gratis free of charge

free access to Internet

free or affordable access to cultural activities

pay what you can

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everybody a volunteer

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The Democratic Library

Values map

Empowerment

Addressing Inequalities

Valuing All Women

Learning and Development

Diversity and Inclusivity

Openness and Respect

zelforganisatie

werk- en leerplek

publiek domein

cultuur bazaar

ja hier mag je: 
lezen
leren
ontmoeten
werken
bellen
praten
wifi gebruiken
afspreken
schrijven
boeken meenemen
iets organiseren
koeffiedrinken
exposeren
performen
krant lezen
vergaderen
de hele dag zijn

The Democratic Library

organisational structure

- Lift up creators and their work who have been excluded or suppressed from the record while actively decentering narratives that promote privileged perspectives or reinforce status quo.
- Create a culture of community ownership over community engagement. This means not just inviting community participation in our agenda, but having the community set that agenda and determine its goals and execution.
- Primarily, build power for communities; secondarily, with them; and never over them
- Challenge our own assumptions, biases, and subjectivity in program design, outreach, cataloging and everywhere else they show up. Know that they will always be there and this work is ongoing, never complete.
- Be aware that whatever our scale compared to larger institutions, we still have valuable resources and access that can and should be liberated and shared with smaller organizations and organizers
- Utilize what resources, access, and profile our institution has to shift the balance of power in other institutions and in the field
- Work to build long-term sustainability to hire staff and compensate partners appropriately for all forms of labor
- When people choose to volunteer, ensure a culture of reciprocity so they are comfortable asking for what they need from the relationship, whether it is to further their careers or to find community
- Uphold the principle of "nothing about us without us." Any project we do or collaborate on about a community must always involve compensated representatives of that community.
- Make tools and training we rely on in our professional work accessible to the public to preserve their own community histories outside of our institution, regardless of benefit to our institution
- Make connections between materials and creators visible to break down barriers to coalition-building and mutual support.
- Be mindful of the line between rejecting the "perfectionist" characteristic of white supremacy in institutions and the "fail fast and break things" mentality that uses communities as collateral damage to innovation.
- Always know it is on us to build trust, not the responsibility of the individual or community

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