A night has passed and thankfully, I don’t hate the library intervention idea yet. Which is a good thing. However, I have been thinking about some tricky methodological problems.
1. It is now clear that the covers of the selected books need to be scanned and presented as a grid or catalogue (a kind of photographically indexical card catalogue in which each cover represents a book that contains a related photograph from the V.I. fonds). It would be interesting if the selected books’ covers had similarities of composition, much as the more obvious categories of photos do, but it is OK if they do not. What all this means is that I will have to check the books out, scan the covers and return them before placing the photographs.
2. I need a method that applies to both keywording the photographs AND identifying the appropriate books. Books generally exist in only one physical place within the library, but they sometimes have multiple subjects listed under the Library of Congress system of categorization. (Something I need to learn more about). I should assign each photo a series of 2 or 3 LOC-style subjects and then, once they’re all listed in a spreadsheet, check for books that match (or come the closest to matching) the primary subjects as I interpret them. For instance, we know that some of the photos of museums are by Thomas Struth. In the Library of Congress, the book Thomas Struth: Museum Photographs by Hans Belting has the following subject headings:
Struth, Thomas, 1954- — Exhibitions.
Photography of Painting — Exhibitions.
Art Museums — Pictorial Works — Exhibitions.
According to this system, I would assign a Struth photo to a book which shares the same primary subject keyword. The problem, here, is that I am trying to get away from the authorial notion of fonds in my placement of photos, so I should also strive towards a visual interpretation of the most appropriate subject, rather than simply reading the photo’s filename, and assigning it to a Struth book based on authorship. So, I would probably assign a Struth photo to “Photography of Painting” or “Art Museums — Pictorial Works.” I guess the question, then, is do I guess at the LOC-style headings that would apply to the photos, and then revise them if they do not yield any books?
3. OK, so I will print my little LOC-style keywords on the back of each photo. I will also write the address of the mysterious V.I. fonds to which the photo belongs. Ideally, I would like there to be some incentive for finders to consider sending the photo back to the original fonds. On the other hand, there should be a competing incentive for the finder to assess the relationship between book and photo and consider simply leaving it in place. It might be useful to put each photo in a little catalogue envelope marked “SUPPLEMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATE ON TEMPORARY LEASE FROM V.I. FONDS,” or something to that effect. And maybe an expiry date stamped on it, with a note asking that the finder return before [yesterday's date].
4. Now, a few of the photos are rather sensitive in nature, and give me pause. First, there is the fair question of confidentiality/personality rights. I am thinking of the passport photos, the party photos, etc. Would there be instances in which it would be appropriate to blur or black out the eyes (the black stripe in particular would inadvertently reference the over-cautious censorship characteristic of public archives). Or do we live in a sufficiently image-saturated internet culture that the last thing people have to fear is their image lying dormant inside a dusty library book? But the photos that concern me the most are the two that depict the horrible events of 9/11. Putting aside the idea that a conceptual archive project might be too whimsical a venue for such images, I could imagine being genuinely threatened or intimidated to find such photos inserted loosely in a library book. Is there a way around this?
I am going to compile my subject headings spreadsheet today (with prospective book matches) and post it up here. Comments and constructive criticisms are welcome. I would love to hear what other people are doing also.
Edit: Rather than place one photo per book, I could assemble the major categories of photos and then place them together in the same book in an envelope of “supplemental photo plates.” So each figure skater could go into a book on figure skating, etc. Maybe this represents a compromise; I will think about it further.
