This winter a group based in Europe has booted up The Coworking Library.
This non-profit is an open database of “current and former research about coworking”. The current database has more than 100 entries, including academic articles, theses, other articles, and books. There is a basic search function, and many of the items are accessible on-line.
The Coworking Library is curated, but has an open call for submissions, i.e., recommended references.
It’s early days, but this could become a useful resource.
From this side of the Atlantic, the collection is notable for its relatively rich collection of research from European sources.
Of course, you can find What is Coworking? listed. : – )
(And, by the way, there are many references in What Is Coworking? that are not in The Coworking Library yet—so get the book, just for the bibliography!)
One challenge for this database will be how to deal with blogs, wikis, tweets, etc. Researching my own book, I found that much of what is recorded about coworking (and freelancing) is in these types of sources. There is relatively little academic research to date, and even the academics are publishing little in conventional journals and conferences. (I think that in part, that is because the topic is multi-discipline, and partly because it is new enough that reviewers and editors don’t know where to place it.)
Attempting to curate less formal but still valuable digital sources such as blog posts, tweets, and so on, is difficult, but would be really valuable in this case. For that matter, actually collecting web sites for coworking spaces and organizations would be a very valuable resource, especially if materials can be preserved as sites change and close.
So—check out The Coworking Library (@CowoLibrary)! And contribute links and citations to make it more complete.
What Is Coworking? 