Libraries through the lens University of California Berkeley Law Library
IN this month’s Libraries through the lens, photographer and librar ian Thomas Guignard shares a view from the inside of the University of California Berkeley Law Library. He explains how his photography has developed from “arranging my compo- sitions in a purely aesthetic pursuit and my research to the name of the architect involved and the year of construction”. He goes on to say: “When I started posting my images online and interacting with social media accounts that were sharing architectural photos, I often found myself frustrated with how little
January-February 2023 detail was provided.
“Without any location information or any backstory, these images were entirely abstracting the building they were rep- resenting. This seemed at odds with the primary purpose of these structures, to provide shelter for a particular activity rather than as a visual backdrop. Thus, I began researching more thoroughly about the libraries I visited and distilling some details to be shared alongside my images.”
This more in-depth approach led to a drop-off in the number of images Thom- as could share, but he says “it brought
me a lot of delightful information I would not otherwise have known. “For example, when researching the history of the UC Berkeley Law Library represented here, I learned that this insti- tution, founded in 1894, did not receive a dedicated facility until 1912. The first law library was instead put in place of a wine cellar conveniently located in the basement of the university library (19th Century California librarians had their priorities right). The reading room repre- sented here is in the current home of the UC Berkeley school of law, completed in 1951 by Warren C. Perry.”
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