Subject area: The New York Public Library

Format: Documentary film accessed via Kanopy

Length: 3 hours & 30 minutes

Audience: information professionals, general audience with interest in libraries

Director: Fredrick Wiseman

 

Reflection:

I went into this viewing of ‘Ex Libris: New York Public Library’ without a clear objective. However, having heard about this legendary documentary combined with my deep interest and passion for the public library as an entity, I had the sense this would contain a nuanced, pithy and almost spiritual quality to the experience of watching a film about the multifaceted nature of one of the most renowned public library institutions. Having worked in the State Library of NSW, I have firsthand experience of the expansiveness of a state-wide public library body, from the deep underground stack levels housing rare books and arcane collections, to the majestic readings rooms that imbue a sense of historic grandeur and importance in the atmosphere. I was very privileged in getting to experience and see for myself the innerworkings of a large library institution, the wide range of teams, activities, collections, services, building spaces and diverse communities that come together and make up it’s ecosystem.

The insights of this film are not given directly, they carry an elusive quality. The daily ebbs and flows within the walls of the New York Public library (NYPL) show the rich layers and everchanging soul of the library, where the personal and specific unveils the political and the universal. The film creates a fly-on-the-wall experience for the viewer, stringing together fascinating sequences, that feel like short films, to build a bigger picture of what goes on in the NYPL. It depicts a range of activities such as talks for the public by authors and thinkers covering a range of topics and considering dense philosophical and historical questions, librarian conducting a family history and genealogy inquiry at the information desk, children building robots as part of a makerspace program, a classically trained pianists performance, and a meeting between a board of directors discussing digital inclusion. The film also shows montages of reading rooms, study spaces, patrons using computers, art exhibitions, picture collections, patrons using microfilm readers and scenes of the community and staff in other branches of the library.

The experience of watching this film had a profound affect on me as I reflected on the way the culture and soul of public libraries permeate their communities. Many important political, cultural and philosophical questions were raised such as who is the library for? How will public libraries manage their funds and balance their public and private interests when facing economic pressures of private funders and dwindling public funding? What are the values, culture, policies and contradictions that arise when public libraries understand their spaces as refuges and shelters for homeless people? How are libraries changing and responding to the needs of an ever-evolving community and what does that mean in terms of how people are relating to this cultural institution? This was a very compelling film and viewing experience and I believe it will stay with me for a while, as the film harnessed symbolic power through its montages and gave me a sense of deepening my relationship to public libraries and what they stand for.