Of an Ancient Scottish House and Information Organization

Since 1107 -- yes, 900 years ago -- Traquair House has stood near Quair Burn, a stream leading to the River Tweed. This castle-like dwelling for centuries has been continuously owned by a member of the Stuart family; we are now to the 21st lady, Catherine Maxwell Stuart.

I mention Traquair House here because I read an article about this ancient manor in the most recent issue of Scottish Life (v. 12, no. 2; Summer 2007) and was fascinated by its history, its brewery -- and the organization of one of its libraries. To quote the article by Richenda Miers, "There are two libraries, the first with an ingenious method of cataloguing the books. Each bookcase is named after a philosopher or writer, with the man's image painted just above in the ceiling cornice. On the spine of each book is an abbreviation of the name -- Pyth for Pythagoras, for example -- and two numbers, the first being the shelf number and the second, the position of the book on the shelf. The second library is an overflow, with examples of archive materials that is kept separately. Created between 1700 and 1740, the Library's collection numbers about 3,000 books and has remained almost intact ever since it was assembled." (p. 30)

Forget the second library -- I was quite taken with the organization of the first library! I imagined building a library in my house using these organizational principles. The library would be octagonal, with rich paneling, and furnished with comfortable sofas to stretch out upon. (For more details, take a look at Keith Richard's library in At Home with Books.) The collection would consist of American literature, and each wall but one (you need an entryway) would consist of a built-in bookcase with a painted portrait overhead of the author. Authors? Emerson (the quintessential American philosopher, who, I've noticed, is never quoted by conservative American patriots and religious leaders), Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Thoreau, Twain, and Wharton. The seventh shelf is for strictly Appalachian authors. (Instead of a portrait, a splendid scene of the Blue Ridge mountains would be painted over this bookcase.) And all of these books would be organized by an abbreviation of the name or topic, a number for the shelf, and the positin of the book on the shelf. So, The House of the Seven Gables could be Haw 1 3. That means the Hawthorne bookcase, shelf 1, book 3.

My American literature library is all a pipe dream, of course, but the library at Traquair House is not. I mention this organization of the Traquair House library because of recently watching The Machine is us/ing us" by Michael Wensch, his fascinating video on Web 2.0. A theme of the video that leaped out at me (and others I have learned) is the question "Who will organize all of this data?" Good question! We've been dealing with this problem since at least Babylonia if not before. How many ways are there to organize information? There's Dewey. There's LC. There's the Traquair House method. And that's just books. What about other kinds of data? What tools are out there to do this?

But enough organizational talk. If you're tired of libraries and of organization, then raise a virtual glass of Traquair House Ale -- a brewery from the 18th century now back in business -- and salute the long-lasting Traquair House, 900 years old. And if you dare ponder how information will be organized 900 years from now -- then I recommend you drink several bottles of real, not virtual, ale, and stop such deep thoughts. Now.

If you're more interested in the house then Web 2.0, here's their addreess: http://www.traquair.co.uk/visit.html

If you want to go ahead and take a tour of the house, including the library, here's that address:
http://www.traquair.co.uk/tour.html