Only about a quarter to a third of the collection is visible around the desk. Moving the whole library requires a dedicated 40-foot lorry, which makes its physical scale and cost hard to ignore. New channel subjects continue to require more specialized books. That expense buys access to material needed for research beyond familiar lecture topics. The collection functions as working research infrastructure for public history.
Notable Point · 17:27-18:26
Books as research infrastructure
A working library and continued source purchases form part of the material foundation of public naval history.