After Disruption: A Future for Cultural Memory

by Trevor Owens

The digital age is burning out our most precious resources and the future of the past is at stake. In After A Future for Cultural Memory, Trevor Owens warns that our institutions of cultural memory—libraries, archives, museums, humanities departments, research institutes, and more—have been “disrupted,” and largely not for the better. He calls for memory workers and memory institutions to take back control of envisioning the future of memory from management consultants and tech sector evangelists. 



After Disruption posits that we are no longer planning for a digital future, but instead living in a digital present. In this context, Owens asks how we plan for and develop a more just, sustainable, and healthy future for cultural memory. The first half of the book draws on critical scholarship on the history of technology and business to document and expose the sources of tech startup ideologies and their pernicious results, revealing that we need powerful and compelling counter frameworks and values to replace these ideologies. The second half of the book makes the case for the centrality of maintenance, care, and repair as interrelated frameworks to build a better future in which libraries, archives, and museums can thrive as sites of belonging and connection through collections.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2024

About the author

I'm a librarian, researcher, policy maker, and educator working on digital infrastructure for libraries. I'm the first Head of Digital Content Management for Library Services at the Library of Congress. I teach graduate seminars in digital history for American University’s History Department and graduate seminars and digital preservation for the University of Maryland’s College of Information, where I'm also a Research Affiliate with the Digital Curation Innovation Center. I'm the author of three books, the most recent of which, The Theory and Craft of Digital Preservation, is in press with Johns Hopkins University Press.

Reviews

[Jason W Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible book for those of us that work in cultural heritage in the long terrible tail of disruption and pop leadership/psychology. Really helped to transform my thinking: *strongly* recommended

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Owens, based on extensive professional experience, and a deep and conscientious analysis of recent, relevant, and appropriately diverse literature, provides a framework for cultural heritage professionals to evaluate and re-prioritize the focus of their vocation. He challenges us to, convincingly, target the ideas of success and the contributions of our careers into the areas of maintenance, care, and repair. In particular, he helps us understand how GLAM digital efforts of the past 30 years have been driven by and structurally designed following unsustainable and predatory capitalist models and how, with perspective, we can take a different path, ensuring both the relevance of our institutions and the health and wellbeing of our colleagues and those we serve. Highly recommended for all those working in libraries, museums, archives, formal education, and beyond.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the author’s previous book a couple times. I work in a related field and I was looking forward to this one a lot. In some ways this felt like a sequel, but I think it’s much more - a concentric circle around Theory and Craft. I find myself referring back to it frequently! Cannot wait for the next installment.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

When your main argument is that a better future is a female-led, queer future, you've lost my attention.

That and the numerous typos and misprints made it difficult to get through this book.