Reading Between the Lines: Reflections on Discarded Books and Sociopolitical Transformations in (Post-)Yugoslavia

Libraries, museums, and archives discard books as part of their job, but the process in Croatia in the 1990s was labeled bibliocide and the biggest destruction of books in the post-war period. This book offers an innovative and original interpretation of post-socialist transition and post-Yugoslav memory and provides an empirically founded case study of the inconsistencies and lack of implementation of regulations in the field of librarianship in Croatia.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 220 pages
Publication date: 26 April 2022
Publisher: ibidem-Verlag, Jessica Haunschild u Christian Schon

Every significant socio-political transformation begins with discarding. Consider the mountains of trash made up of outdated furniture, automobiles, busts of renowned communist leaders, badges, and books on the streets of Eastern Europe in the fall/winter of 1989/1990. Libraries, among other institutions, have the most experience with discarding: It may come as a surprise, but libraries (as well as museums and archives) routinely discard books as part of their duties. In the aftermath of communism's collapse in Europe, stock revision was required in libraries, but did it occur in the usual business-as-usual manner, or was it a bibliocide (as some media in Croatia labeled it) or even the greatest book destruction in the post-war era (as a German journalist characterized it)? When does a typical library practice begin to garner public attention? What transpired in Croatia that there is even a Wikipedia page about bookicide in the 1990s? This book addresses the issue from at least three perspectives (phenomenological, discursive, and theoretical) and from three angles (from the perspective of librarians, non-professionals, and, metaphorically, discarded books themselves). The goal is to provide an innovative and original interpretation of the post-socialist transition and post-Yugoslav memory while, at the same time, providing an empirically supported case study of the inconsistencies and lack of enforcement of rules in the field of librarianship in Croatia as opposed to a seemingly more coordinated environment in Slovenia.

Weight: 272g
Dimension: 21 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783838216430