There are lakes everywhere in Minnesota and now one of them has a floating library.
Thanks to Sarah Peters the contraption above is open for business on Cedar Lake in Minneapolis. Designed by Molly Reichert the 8 foot structure will hold upwards of 80 books for water travelers to peruse and check out.
Canoes, kayaks, paddle boards, skiffs, rowboats, or even inner tubes are invited to paddle up to the Library and browse the shelves from inside their watercraft. The library has both circulating and reference collections of artists’ books contributed by artists nationwide. A staff of friendly floating librarians facilitate the check out process and make reading suggestions
There are even drop off boxes on the shore to return the books.
About the project, Peters told the Minneapolis Star Tribune “Art books are not a widely known art form..And so there’s an element of delight and surprise. First of all, canoeing along and coming across a library. And then having it stocked with books that are totally unique. It’s like this double whammy of inventiveness. It can expand people’s ideas of what art is.”
True enough but it could also ruin a lot of those unique books. Granted one cannot enter the library but the confluence of books and water rarely ends well.
Perhaps a shore-based library by the landing dock could have achieved the goal of exposing people to the pleasures of book arts and artists books without the high risk. But then again maybe the reward is in the risk.
Story at the Star Tribune: The land of 10,000 lakes now has a floating library
Flickr set of the Floating Library, 2013
h/t Shelf Awareness