RBMS 2019 Conference

Sponsored by Tavistock Books

The content of libraries and archives occupies a fairly brief portion of Earth’s long history recorded in ice, trees, fossils, and rocks—all of which David Sepkoski has described and interpreted as “The Earth As Archive.” But in response to climate change and an age controversially referred to as “The Anthropocene,” it is crucial to re-evaluate the media upon which human history is recorded and preserved in terms of how it impacts—and interacts with—the environment, since climate change threatens both earth and archive alike.

The purpose of this workshop is to offer an introduction to key concepts in ecology, eco-criticism, and media theory, with a view toward training professionals in using their collections to teach others about climate change. The day will begin with an introduction to ecologies of media, drawing from important recent work such as Jussi Parikka’s The Geology of Media and Françoise Vergès’s “Racial Capitalocene” in Futures of Black Radicalism. As a case study, we will consider the history of nature printing—using natural materials to make impressions—and experiment with making our own prints in an exercise that has been developed for participants to adapt to their own institutions. The session will conclude with a questionnaire for participants to fill out and discuss in terms of how their own institution relates to ecologies of the media they possess. By teaching sensitivity toward the ecologies of different media—from print to digital—participants will not only learn to use their collections to heighten awareness of climate change, but also by starting small, to generate comprehensive understandings about how the materiality and ecology of individual objects relate to the wider world.

Workshop fee (6/18/2019, 9:00am-12:00pm): $140