Double Fold or Double Take? Book Memory and the Administration of Knowledge

The year 2001 will be known for many destructive and highly visible public tragedies. However within the librarian discourse, it will be remembered for the controversies encircling the publication of Nicholson Baker’s Double Fold. This article assesses the rationale, direction and scope of this book and resultant debate, showing what it reveals about libraries, librarians and the distinctions between information and knowledge. Yet the article also suggests that Baker did not extend his case for preservation far enough: to the realm of popular memory, popular culture and digital ephemera. Without attention to these matters, libraries will remain neglected cemeteries: the passionless cranium of the culture.