Academic CentreThe collection of the scientific articles “Library and Personality. Libraries of Fragments” is the third volume in the book series phronesis (practical wisdom), praxis (process, action), paideia (education), which is being prepared for publication by Interdisciplinary Research Centre of Academic Library of the University of Latvia, based on the materials of the annual meetings of the University of Latvia international scientific conferences. Phronesis, praxis, paideia form the conceptual identity of the book series, thereby marking a global and historical dimension from the beginning of the emergence of knowledge, when knowledge was not yet divided into branches and its value was wisdom and moral improvement, and the ability to use knowledge for the benefit of society, to the networks of sciences of the 21st century and interdisciplinary research projects. The multidimensional thematic coverage of the humanities extends to the research of culture, philosophy, art, language and society. The authors’ writing contributes to interdisciplinary research, highlighting the unifying elements of different fields and creating new theoretical and conceptual approaches. In this case, it reflects a joint study by philosophers, philologists and librarians dedicated to personalities in libraries, the libraries they have created, and fragments.
The first part of the book “Library and Personality. Libraries of Fragments” contains the publication of studies presented at the conference “Library and Personality” on 7 October 2021. The second part contains the studies that were discussed at the conference “Fragments' World” on 17 May 2022. Interdisciplinarity calls for seeking a unifying connection among the concepts which until now have not been considered jointly. Socrates already anticipated this with his teaching: “I know that I know nothing”, – he actually called for retaining the ability to observe and get to know things again and again. Likewise, this is the task of interdisciplinarity – to gain new knowledge by different approaches, to open hitherto unexperienced facets of thinking, to seek new research abilities and to regard the known things in a different way.
I will outline a couple of thought-provoking questions. Why could not article collections be metaphorically called “libraries of fragments”? Each collection of articles, according to its structure, is created in accordance with the principles of library organization. Just as books are lined up on a library shelf, texts are lined up one after the other in a collection of papers. They are each a self-contained unit that together form a whole, and each article is a part (fragment) in the volume. Each article is different in style and form, as well as in theoretical approach, but they all are a part of a certain whole.
In this volume, the authors consider personality, fragment and library mainly in the context of Europe and the world, aspiring to unite book publishing, reading, fragments and libraries with philosophy, cultural history and understanding of a human across several centuries. Here the readers can share the thoughts proposed by doctors of humanities Raivis Bičevskis, Rihards Kūlis, Linda Gediņa, Jana Dreimane, Venta Kocere, Beata Paškeviča, Inta Līsmane, Velga Vēvere, Ineta Kivle; doctoral student Anna Auzāne; masters of arts Ilze Garda and Daina Šulca. The design of the book encompasses the paintings by Inguna Miļūna and Daina Šulca. We have shared many years of cooperation with Inguna, and her art is a consistent accompaniment in the design of the book series. The previous volumes also contain the fragments of J. L. Borges’s works, which have been translated by Inguna, while the current collection contains a fragment of Romanticist philosophy heritage translated by Raivis Bičevskis. Furthermore, I would like to express gratitude to the authors, artists and University of Latvia Academic Press for the work invested in creating “Library and Personality. Libraries of Fragments”.
We deeply appreciate your cooperation, responsiveness and interest.
Dr. phil. Ineta Kivle
Deputy Director of the Academic Library of the University of Latvia,
Head of Interdisciplinary Research Centre, leading researcher
January, 2023