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# Mission of the library redux
- URL: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/mission-of-the-library-redux/
- Published: 2010-03-07T22:03:58.000Z
- Updated: 2020-10-28T09:11:09.000Z
- Author: Lorcan Dempsey
- Tags: Books, Institutions

I heard Anders Söderbäck of the Royal Library in Sweden [speak](https://www.biblioteksforeningen.org/konferens/Konf2010/informationstjanster/konf.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net) in Lund last week on the perennial topic ‘what is a library’. He reminded us of Daniel Dennett’s remark:

[ A scholar is just a library’s way of making another library. ](https://www.freebase.com/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000fd49202?ref=lorcandempsey.net) 

![](https://img.freebase.com/api/trans/image_thumb/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000fd49202?pad=1&errorid=%2Ffreebase%2Fno_image_png&maxheight=150&mode=fillcropmid&maxwidth=150 "A scholar is just a library's way of making another library.") 

This in turn reminded me of a post I did here a while ago about Dan Chudnov’s definition of the mission of the library:

> Dan Chudnov has an interesting post on the mission of the library. What is the all-consuming mission of the library? His answer is an interesting one, which on reflection works surprisingly well. He argues that his professional mission as a librarian is this:
> 
>> Help people build their own libraries.   
>> \[[Because this is the business we’ve chosen | One Big Library.](https://onebiglibrary.net/story/because-this-is-the-business-weve-chosen?ref=lorcandempsey.net)\]
> 
> What I like about this is that it – if I understand it correctly – covers emerging as well as current scenarios. Examples: to help with the creation, organization and curation of locally created materials, or to help with shared bookmarking/citation management/reading list services. As I suggest [elsewhere](https://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue46/dempsey/?ref=lorcandempsey.net) we are developing a new vocabulary of collections: playlists, reading lists, repository, … \[[Hedgehogs](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/000961.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net)\]

Here is [Daniel Dennett](https://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/lccn-n81-89168?ref=lorcandempsey.net) in Worldcat Identities.  
Related entry:

- [What is the library](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/000443.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net)