56a Infoshop
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox library
| library_name = 56a Infoshop
| logo =
| logo_size = 100px
| image = File:56a infoshop (2705105970).jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Infoshop sign
| architect =
| country = United Kingdom
| location = Crampton Street
London, SE17
| type = Social Centre and Archive
| coordinates = {{coord|51|29|26.5|N|0|06|00.3|W|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| location_map =
| num_branches = 1
| established = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1991|paren=yes}}
| items_collected = Books, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and zines
| collection_size = 50,000+ items (2021){{Cite web|title=56a Infoshop – Radical Social Centre, Elephant & Castle – 56a Infoshop since 1991|url=http://56a.org.uk/|access-date=2021-10-02|website=56a.org.uk}}
| legal_deposit = No
| req_to_access = Open to anyone with a need to use the collections and services
| budget =
| director =
| website = [http://56a.org.uk/ 56a]
| mapframe = no
| module = {{Infobox designation list
|embed=yes
| designation1 =
| designation1_offname =
| designation1_number =
| designation1_date =
}}
}}{{Socialism in the UK}}
56a Infoshop is a self-managed social centre, archive, and shop based in Elephant and Castle, Southwark, London. Its collection centres around left and far-left materials including information on anarchism, anti-gentrification, to squatting.{{Cite journal|last=Burgum|first=Samuel|date=2020-09-11|title=This City Is An Archive: Squatting History and Urban Authority|journal=Journal of Urban History|volume=48 |issue=3 |language=en|pages=504–522|doi=10.1177/0096144220955165|s2cid=225222156|issn=0096-1442|doi-access=free}}
History
56a Infoshop was founded in 1991 initially as a squat and a self-managed social centre.{{Citation|last=Pell|first=Susan|title=Documenting the fight for the city: The impact of activist archives on anti-gentrification campaigns|date=2020|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315567846-9/documenting-fight-city-susan-pell|work=Archives, Recordkeeping, and Social Justice|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781315567846-9|isbn=978-1-315-56784-6|s2cid=219402555|access-date=2021-10-03|url-access=subscription}} From here, it eventually had to accept an agreement in 2003{{Cite journal|last=Carter|first=Elena|date=2017-01-02|title='Setting the record straight': the creation and curation of archives by activist communities. A case study of activist responses to the regeneration of Elephant and Castle, South London|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/23257962.2016.1260532|journal=Archives and Records|volume=38|issue=1|pages=27–44|doi=10.1080/23257962.2016.1260532|s2cid=157359853|issn=2325-7962|url-access=subscription}} to pay a "peppercorn" rent by Southwark Council to remain functional within the area.{{Cite journal|last=Dee|first=E.T.C.|date=2016-01-01|title=Squatted Social Centers in London|url=http://berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/contention/4/1/cont040109.xml|journal=Contention|volume=4|issue=1|doi=10.3167/cont.2016.040109|issn=2572-7184|url-access=subscription}}
Services
The infoshop offers mixed, volunteered services from selling books, book exchanges, free bike workshops, squatter workshops, free meeting spaces, and an open-access archival collection.{{Cite web|last1=Gilliland|first1=Anne|last2=Flinn|first2=Andrew|title=Community Archives: what are we really talking about? Andrew Flinn Keynote|url=https://studylib.net/doc/12864586/community-archives--what-are-we-really-talking-about|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-03|website=studylib.net|language=en|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211003083939/https://studylib.net/doc/12864586/community-archives--what-are-we-really-talking-about |archive-date = 2021-10-03 }}
Collection
File:16th June 2015.jpg56a Infoshop's collection of over 50,000 items (2021) focuses on collecting left and far-left radicial and anarchical materials ranging from books, leaflets, magazines, maps, pamphlets posters, zines, and other print material.{{Cite web|title=56a Infoshop Archive|url=https://www.communityarchives.org.uk/content/organisation/56a-infoshop-archive|access-date=2021-10-02|website=Community Archives and Heritage Group|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last=Firth|first=R.|date=2014-05-01|title=Critical cartography as anarchist pedagogy? Ideas for praxis inspired by the 56a infoshop map archive|url=http://www.interfacejournal.net/2014/06/interface-volume-6-issue-1-movement-pedagogies/|journal=Interface: A Journal for and About Social Movements|language=en|volume=16|issue=1|pages=156–184}} Their collection mainly spans items from the 1980s up to the present day with an active focus on conserving ongoing, although they have materials touching on subjects as early as the 14th century.{{Cite web|title=Archive – 56a Infoshop – Radical Social Centre, Elephant & Castle|url=http://56a.org.uk/archive-2/|access-date=2021-10-03|website=56a.org.uk}}
They have an ongoing digitisation effort through their [https://www.librarything.com/catalog/56aInfoshop online catalogue] and take on scan-a-thons to preserve collection material. External partners including other archival spaces like MayDay rooms.{{Cite web|title=MayDay Rooms » Past events|url=https://maydayrooms.org/past-events/|access-date=2021-10-02|language=en-US}} 56a Infoshop also operates the online resources Southwark Notes that "is a campaigning group and research project concerned with the impact of the regeneration and gentrification of Southwark".
Governance
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://56a.org.uk/ 56a Infoshop website]
- [https://www.librarything.com/catalog/56aInfoshop Catalogue]
{{Anarchism}}
{{Socialism}}
{{UK far left}}
{{Libraries in London}}
{{Bookshops in London}}
{{Infoshops}}
Category:Charities based in London
Category:Literary archives in London
Category:Archives in the London Borough of Southwark
Category:Socialist organisations in the United Kingdom
Category:1991 establishments in the United Kingdom