This presentation is an overview of how Joseph Campbell's definition of mythology helps us understand libraries as workplaces both historically and in the future.

1. Reworking Myth:
Casting Lots for the Future
of Library Workplaces

2. Using the Alexandrian Libraries
to see Past, Present, and Future
Ancient Alexandrian Library Bibliotheca Alexandrina

3. The Ancient Library
• Established by Ptolemy I
The Mouseion (Soter)
• Connected to the Temple of
the Muses, or “Museum”
• Was located within the palace
area.
• Subsequent Ptolemies, notably
Ptolemy II and III , added
substantially to the collection
• Ptolemies I, II, & III all brought
scholars to live in Alexandria
and use the library

4. The Ancient Library
Daughter Library
• Probably created as an
overflow for the original
library.
• Housed in the Serapeum,
or Temple of Serapis,
outside the palace, but still
within the city of Alexandria.
• Stored, among other items,
the results of Ptolemy II
(Philadelphius)‟s active
efforts to enlarge its
collections.

5. The Ancient Library
Destruction? Both libraries probably
shared separate fates:
•The Museum Library is said to have
burned in 48 B.C. at the hand of
Julius Caesar—if it happened, it was
probably an accident
•The Daughter Library may have
been destroyed more than 400 years
later, when Christians destroyed the
Serapeum and, presumably, the
daughter library contained within it.
•More than one scholar suggests that
the libraries vanished from lack of
upkeep and fragile collections.

6. The Modern Library
According to J. Tocatlian
Project Genesis (Formerly of UNESCO)
“The design of the
[Bibliotheca Alexandrina] is
in the form of a circle, which
becomes its predominant
symbol…the circle is a symbol
of unity and continuity that
embraces the past, present
and future…[the library‟s]
cylindrical masonry form
emerges from the earth like
the rebirth of an earlier form”
(43).

7. The Future Library
•“The granite exterior wall [of the
Project Goals Bibliotheca Alexandrina] is
patterned in alphabets, an
assortment of characters and
hieroglyphs from 200 different
writing systems ancient and modern.
•They mingle to project the sense
that the building is a mysterious
receptacle of some sort…crammed
with strange messages.
•And the impression is exactly
right, because the building promises
an implausible but somehow still
thrilling answer to an old dream.”
Amy E. Schwartz,
writer for the Washington Post

8. The Future Library
Project Goals
• A call to collect „the
writings of all
peoples‟
• Constructing the
“universal” collection
• Shifting toward
Internet-Based
Collections

9. The Modern Disconnect
Claims of the The Archaeological and
Bibliotheca Alexandrina Historical Record
From the Library‟s Website Grzegorz Majcherek explains:
“The new Library of Alexandria, the “Archaeology has proved almost
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, completely powerless in the face of
is…[l]ocated on a superb site on the this myth, failing to keep step with
historic eastern harbor of Alexandria, changing reality. The Bibliotheca
almost exactly where the old library Alexandrina stands rebuilt in new
and the royal palace of the Ptolemies form, as an ultra modern library, yet
once stood…” we are still looking for an answer
to…simple questions of key
(“The Landmark Building,” emphasis importance [including]: Where was
added) the original Library?”
(Academic Life of Late Antique
Alexandria: A View From the Field
191, emphasis added)

10. Ancient Alexandria

11. Ancient Alexandria

12. Ancient Alexandria

13. Ancient Alexandria

14. Modern Alexandria

15. Ancient/Modern Alexandria

16. Ancient/Modern Alexandria

17. Layering and Mythmaking
•The order created by mythology is not fixed, as is sometimes
assumed in historical thinking.
•Mythological order comes from the placing of like stories on
top of one another simultaneously until specificity is blurred
and only the similarities between stories is recognizable.
•This allows an order to form from the hodgepodge of stories
and a mythology forms based upon this order.

18. Joseph Campbell:
Four Functions of Myth
•“Myth basically serves four functions. The first is the mystical
function…realizing what a wonder the universe is, and what a
wonder you are, and experienc[ing] awe before this mystery…”
•“The second is a cosmological dimension…showing you what
the shape of the universe is but showing it in such a way that the
mystery comes through…”
•“The third function is the sociological one—supporting and
validating a certain social order…”
•“[and] there is a fourth function of myth…that is the
pedagogical function of how to live a life under any
circumstances.”
(The Power of Myth 38-39, emphasis added)

19. Hierarchy of Functions
Primary Mythological Functions
• Sociological
• Mystical
Secondary Mythological Functions
• Cosmological
• Pedagogical

20. Examples of Library Workplace Pedagogy
The Five Laws of Library 2.0 Pedagogy
Library Science
1. Books Are For 1. Libraries Act as a
Use Crossroads of
Information
2. Every Person His
or Her Book 2. Libraries Conduct
3. Every Book Its Their Core Business
Reader on the Web
4. Save the Time of 3. Libraries Service
the Reader Small Niche Groups.
5. The Library is a 4. Libraries value
Growing Organism Quantity in Users

21. Common future-library scenarios
portrayed by scholars:
•The internet is a unique event unlike anything in
the history of libraries.
•The arrival of the internet is the beginning of the
end of libraries.

22. A Myth to Call Its Own
Library future, viewed through the lens of library
workplace mythology, shows library workplaces as
they have always been:
Groups of people and structures that have been,
are, and will be capable of adapting to cultural,
religious, political, and technological changes,
while maintaining a core identity that represents a
desire to learn, a love of information, a willingness to
adapt, and a fascinating mythology all their own.