The Anarchist Library
 | |
| Formation | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Aragorn! Marco Other anarchists |
| Purpose | Archiving and distributing documentation related to anarchism |
| Services | |
Official language | English |
| Affiliations | Anarchism |
| Website | theanarchistlibrary |
The Anarchist Library is an online anarchist library and archive founded around 2007 by Aragorn!, Marco and other anarchists. Free to use and aimed at gathering all English-language anarchist literature, or literature translated into English, the library gradually gained increasing importance within anarchism in the early 21st century.
History
[edit]The online library was founded by Aragorn!, Marco and other anarchists around 2007.[1] It emerged from anarchist circles that were then seeking to organize using the tools provided by the advent of the internet.[2] Marco left it during the second half of the 2010s to establish another project, seeking a multiplicity of small anarchist libraries rather than a single one.[3]
In 2018, researcher Jayne Malenfant noted, in her surveys of anarchist youth in rural Canada, that the internet had become a privileged space for anarchist thought, particularly through this library.[4] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the library undertook an effort to collect data related to mutual aid practices by anarchists.[5]
Goals and organization
[edit]It aims to serve as a gathering place for anarchist publications or those related to anarchism in English, and to enable the establishment of archival work for anarchist textual resources.[6] The library's collections focus particularly on contemporary anarchism, and almost all of the texts are in English. The collection is built by free and open with regard to editors.[7]
The library is credited by Ray Di Marco Campbell, lecturer at the University of Glasgow,[8] with participating in anarchist economic practices.[9] They argue that the availability of a number of research publications directly challenges the monopoly and private property of the publishing industry.[9]
Legacy
[edit]Influence(s)
[edit]The library is one of the older anarchist projects on the internet, and its approach to categorizing and preserving anarchist or anarchism-related sources can be seen, for example, in initiatives aimed at digitizing the American anarchist press.[2] In 2019, Ruth Kinna noted the library as a 'reference work' on contemporary anarchist thought.[7]
Fairmont University recommends The Anarchist Library as a useful resource for studying anarchism.[10] Its collection of texts related to the Spanish Civil War was noted by the anarchist newspaper Fifth Estate.[11]
References
[edit]- ↑ Collective, CrimethInc Ex-Workers (2021-02-13). "CrimethInc. : Remembering Aragorn! : A Zine, a Video, and a Poem". CrimethInc. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
- 1 2 Cornell, Andrew (2019). "Archival Parties and Parties to the Archive: Creating and Recovering Anarchist Resistance Culture at the Interference Archive". American Periodicals. 29 (1): 21–25. ISSN 1054-7479. JSTOR 26729241.
- ↑ "AnarchistLibraries.Net". 325.nostate.net. Archived from the original on 2018-07-03. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
- ↑ Malenfant, Jayne (2018). "Anarchist Youth in Rural Canada: Technology, Resistance, and the Navigation of Space". Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures. 10 (2): 126–151. doi:10.1353/jeu.2018.0020. ISSN 1920-261X.
- ↑ Swann, Thomas (2023-01-01). "'Anarchist technologies': Anarchism, cybernetics and mutual aid in community responses to the COVID-19 crisis". Organization. 30 (1): 193–209. doi:10.1177/13505084221090632. ISSN 1350-5084. PMC 10076238. PMID 37038431.
- ↑ Kinna 2012, p. 370.
- 1 2 Kinna, Ruth (2013). "Anarchism". obo. doi:10.1093/obo/9780199756384-0059. ISBN 978-0-19-975638-4. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link) - ↑ "University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Education - Our staff - Mr Luke Campbell". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
- 1 2 "Article: Intellectual Property is Theft – Towards an Anarchist Culture of Knowledge Sharing & Translation – AnarchistStudies.Blog". Retrieved 2025-07-06.
- ↑ Reference, Library. "Fairmont State University Library: Anarchy: Internet Resources". library.fairmontstate.edu. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
- ↑ "Spanish Revolution Resource Page - Fifth Estate Magazine". Retrieved 2025-07-06.
Bibliography
[edit]- Kinna, Ruth (2012), The continuum companion to anarchism (PDF), Bloomsbury Academic, ISBN 978-1-4411-7212-9
