Marilou Pain and Raphaëlle Bats Bibliodebout: a collaborative library in a social movement Paper at BOBCATSSS 2017

1. Bibliodebout: a collaborative
library in a social movement
Raphaëlle Bats, raphaelle.bats@enssib.fr
Marilou Pain, marilou.pain@live.fr

2. Outline
1/ Introduction
2/ Litterature review
3/ Methodology
4/ Results & Discussion
5/ Conclusion

3. Introduction

4. The #BiblioDebout
5th of April to 22th of October 2016
A collaborative and participative library
Free & on a gift basis

5. In a context of a social movement
� “Nuit Debout”, From March to July 2016
� Massive occupation of places in French
cities and villages
� First, a reaction to the El Khomri law,
� Then, an opportunity to recreate democratic
debate and public space.

6. Problem
� If the quality of life depends on our capacity for action,
� we ought to ask which resources participate in its development,
� and thus question the role of knowledge in an empowerment
project.
And if public libraries aim to emancipate citizens, thus studying the BiblioDebout could
show us another way to reach that goal.

7. Literature Review

8. Philosophy
� Power and political action depending on knowledge (Aristotle,
Foucault)
� Knowledge is not enough to insure action (Platon, Bourdieu,
Innerarity)
� Participation and equality can help to develop a co-dependant
relation between knowledge and power (Dewey, Rancière)
Litterature review

9. Methodology

10. Methodology
A qualitative study
� 17 participative observations in BiblioDebout Lyon
� Text and data mining of the BiblioDebout’s mailing lists:
381 messages
� Reading of the #Bibliodebout (Twitter)

11. Results & Discussion

12. The library drawned by BiblioDebout is
Utopian Egalitarian
Emotional Experimental

13. Utopian
Time & Space
• From occupation to
nomadism
• > With its time
Over the social
movement
• After Nuit Debout,
• with other
mobilizations
• > Non in the
immediacy
Utopia
• Less a tool for a
movement,
• than a political
experiment of
redefinition of the
library

14. Egalitarian
BiblioDeboutistes
• Librarians, ex-
librarians or aspirant
librarians / Librists
• Collections,
mediation, advices,
•> Librarians’ Expertise
Visitors / donnors
•Onlookers / activistes
& participants /
anonymous insitutions /
Publishers
•Curiosity / opportunity /
Emotion / Learning /
Souvenirs
•> Mobilized knowledge
Equality
• Acknowledgement of
each expertise
• The library is not at
the service of the
community, but it is
the community

15. Emotional
Interactions
•From books to
sociability
•Individual
experience of
reading /
Collective
experience of
discussion
•> The Waterfall
Effects
The gift
experience
•To give and
Receive
•Free
• > “The
BiblioDebout is a
Common”
Stories
•Testimonies on
the website
•>an experience to
live or to know
Emotion
•Emotion : feelings
and desire
•Affects: to create
new commitments

16. Experimental
Collection
•Printed books, leaflets,
ebooks
•Built by gifts
•> No prescription
Debates
•Selection and
Censorship ?
•Mediation & cultural
events
•> Prescription in
question
Experience
•Focus on the Praxis
•Reproduction of the gifts
experience
•Prescription by action
instead of by contents

17. Conclusion

18. Conclusion
BiblioDebout helps to question the political
vocation of Public Libraries, a trendy topic in
France today.
To take on this role, the PL has to:
 Redefining its neutrality,
 Increasing participative projects,
 Not only « making society », but « making
community »,
 Redefining role of institution: not what is setting, but
what is moving.

19. Sources
�BIBLIO-DEBOUT, http://biblio-debout.org/
�Liste de diffusion BD Lyon
�Liste de diffusion BD Paris
�Observations BD Lyon

20. References
Archipel des devenirs. (2013). L’archipel des devenirs – Centre de recherche sur l’utopie [Centre de recherche]. Retrieved December 25, 2016, from
http://archipeldevenirs.lcsp.univ-paris-diderot.fr/
Aristote. (1996). Politique. Paris, France: Les Belles Lettres.
Bats, R. (2015). Biblioteche, crisi e partecipazione. AIB studi, (1).
Bats, R. (2016). Libraries after Charlie: From Neutrality to Action. Library Trends, 65(2), 128–142.
BiblioDebout. (2016a). April 2016 – #BiblioDebout. Retrieved December 27, 2016, from http://biblio-debout.org/index.php/2016/04/
BiblioDebout. (2016b). Qu’est-ce que la #BiblioDebout ? – #BiblioDebout. Retrieved December 25, 2016, from http://biblio-debout.org/index.php/quest-ce-que-la-
bibliodebout/
Commission Européenne. (2016). Eurostat. Commission Européenne. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/gdp-and-beyond/quality-of-life/data
Dewey, J. (2010). Le public et ses problèmes. (J. P. Zask, Trans.). Paris, France: Gallimard.
Faure, S., Daumas, C., & Vécrin, A. (2016, January 12). «Culture de l’excuse» : les sociologues répondent à Valls - Libération. Libération. Paris, France.
Retrieved from http://www.liberation.fr/debats/2016/01/12/culture-de-l-excuse-les-sociologues-repondent-a-valls_1425855
Foucault, M. (1976). L’archéologie du savoir. Paris, France: Gallimard.
Habermas, J. (1987). Théorie de l’agir communicationnel. (J.-M. Ferry, Trans.) (Vols. 1–2). Paris, France: Fayard.
Innerarity, D. (2015). Démocratie et société de la connaissance. Grenoble: Presses Universitaires de Grenoble.
Lahary, D. (2005). Le fossé des générations. BBF - Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France, (3). Retrieved from http://bbf.enssib.fr/consulter/bbf-2005-03-0030-005
Lankes, R. D. (2015, January 8). Charlie Hebdo. Retrieved from https://davidlankes.org/?p=6907
Lordon, F. (2016). Les Affects de la politique, Frédéric Lordon (Sciences Humaines). Paris, France: Seuil.
Martin, C. (2016, April 26). BiblioDebout : les questions qu’on se pose quand on fait une bibliothèque participative - le Plus. Le plus Nouvel Obs. Paris, France.
Retrieved from http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/1507800-bibliodebout-livre-sexiste-roman-de-gare-devons-nous-censurer-les-titres-proposes.html
Merklen, D. (2013). Pourquoi brûle-t-on des bibliothèques ?: essai (Vols. 1–1). Villeurbanne, France: Presses de l’ENSSIB, École nationale supérieure des
sciences de l’information et des bibliothèques, impr. 2013.
Platon. (2008). La République. Paris, France: Flammarion.
Rancière, J. (2009). Le maître ignorant: cinq leçons sur l’émancipation intellectuelle. Paris, France: Fayard.

21. Thanks!
Any questions?
Raphaëlle Bats, rbats.pro@gmail.com
Marilou Pain, marilou.pain@live.fr