Uncommons: Transforming Dusty Reading Rooms into Artefactual “Third Space” Library Learning Labs

This article describes the implementation of two inexpensive social learning library laboratories for advanced students in Latin American and Chicana/o studies. Drawing on philosophical literature from these interdisciplinary areas and ethnic studies, these cases present a “third space” option for library learning called uncommons. This term denotes alternative book-laden spaces for student scholars practicing, rather than studying, their disciplinary crafts. As a “third space,” uncommons invite advanced students to resist the false dichotomy between technology and tradition and to present their work among peers engaging tangible and audible, as opposed to virtual, creative or academic texts.