Invisible Strings
What happens when you need a book that isn’t on our shelves? We send it on a cross-country journey.
The work behind our global book borrowing service, Interlibrary Loan (ILL), is mostly conducted in back offices and mailrooms; it is an essential scholarly support network that often goes unseen.
In this exhibit, the Fibery Library, a team of Dartmouth librarians who investigate library-specific data in creative, unexpected ways, explore the ILL’s seemingly invisible network: its vast reach and countless collaborations. With knitted chord diagrams, a circular layout ideal for displaying inter-relationships, the Fibrarians weave a network of shared knowledge across Ivy+ Institutions. Our knitting technique also just happens to be called i-cords: a happy coincidence.
To meet the Fibrarians and see how data turns into thread, visit the Fibery Library website.
