This article analyses classificatory encounters in a unique library with integrated academic and public book collections. Employing Walter Benjamin's image of the organised bookshelf as a ‘magic circle’ of independently relating items, I follow the choreography of classification in library spaces: from the formality of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) through which books are organised, to their resulting social life on the shelves, to the way they are subsequently engaged with by users. Through ethnographic analysis of interactions with the surprising juxtapositions found on the library's bookshelves, I provide insights into the power of classification, both for socially organising knowledge and for inviting intellectually and emotionally significant encounters of subtle reclassification. I argue that while formal classification schemes may seem to fix knowledge categories, the ‘magic circles’ created through such schemes on the shelves suggest a more vital, vibrant and invitational dynamic. Further, I highlight the centrality of library books as material cultural objects to the potency of these classificatory encounters for those involved in them. Combining insights from prominent lines of research in cultural sociology – regarding classification and materiality – the article shows how classification

中文翻译：

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书架的“魔圈”：图书馆空间中分类遭遇的民族志研究


本文分析了一个拥有综合学术和公共藏书的独特图书馆中的分类遭遇。采用沃尔特·本雅明将有序书架视为独立相关物品的“魔圈”的形象，我遵循图书馆空间中的分类编排：从组织书籍的杜威十进制分类（DDC）的形式，到由此产生的社会货架上的生活，以及随后用户与它们互动的方式。通过对图书馆书架上令人惊讶的并置物的相互作用进行人种学分析，我深入了解了分类的力量，既可以用于社会组织知识，也可以邀请在智力和情感上进行微妙重新分类的重要遭遇。我认为，虽然正式的分类方案似乎固定了知识类别，但通过书架上的此类方案创建的“魔圈”表明了一种更生机勃勃、更具活力和更具吸引力的动态。此外，我强调图书馆书籍作为物质文化对象对于参与其中的人来说这些分类遭遇的效力的中心地位。文章结合了文化社会学重要研究领域的见解——关于分类和物质性——展示了分类如何