Following a brief introduction to the history and collections of the Prelinger Library, this talk focuses on the practices that have made the Library a busy community hub since it opened in 2004. The advantages offered by an informal library room include social reading, spatial browsing, physical engagement with three-dimensional materials, and associative searching. In this Library these advantages are complemented and supported by significant digital holdings, the fruit of a long-term partnership with Internet Archive. The Library has used its role as a new and experimental organization to develop these practices as working proposals for the future convergence of analog and digital modes of public engagement with library collections.
Megan Prelinger, Co-Founder, Prelinger Library
