A ‘Radical’ Library for the Hip-Hop Set in the South Bronx

“If we make it cool to read books in the South Bronx...then it’s a victory” -Rodrigo Venegas, aka Rodstarz, one-third of the rap crew, Rebel Diaz, and founding member of the cultural collectiveWelcome to The Richie Perez Radical Library, a new library created by the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective. The library, which was named for a South Bronx educator and activist who died in 2004, features "works by influential thinker-agitators, such as Angela Davis and Malcolm X, with writings by hip-hop luminaries including KRS-One, the RZA and Jay-Z." The collective partnered with Bluestockings, an independent Lower East Side bookstore, to gather...

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The Robo-Librarian

                       Trust the machine - Samantha WeberSeattle's Evening Magazine visited the King County Public Library distribution center to profile the "Tin Man," the largest book-sorting machine in the country and the humans that feed it.The monster is half the size of a football field and processes between 38-45,000 books a day.Its job is to Sort-Scan-Plop, Sort-Scan-Plop all day long.Interesting tidbit - aside from the King County Library system having the largest book-sorting operation for physical books they also lend more ebooks than any other library system in the country!And as an...

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Plates of Wonder: A salute to the Irani cafés of India

Check out this nifty campaign created by OgilvyOne UK for Dishoom, a new cafe steeped in the tradition of the old endangered Irani cafes of India which entertained and welcomed people from all walks of life to come and share food and stories.The campaign launched with 80 typographic plates that "incorporate the personal memories of Irani cafés from the older generation in Bombay and the UK, collected through spoken accounts and on the internet," which includes a section of their website where you can design your own plate, submit it and if it makes them smile they'll bake it onto a plate and...

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In the Stacks | LACMA

Das Buch (The Book). Anselm Kiefer, 1985. Lead, steel, and tinThe Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has recently launched a new website and have made available 20,000 images from their vast collection for free download. LACMA is blessed with the largest holdings of American Art in the west and now a quarter of their works online are available for free!The Book (Fall) III. John Stezaker, 2009. Artist’s book with unique photo collageTo celebrate the announcement we dedicate this installment of In The Stacks to LACMA. There is so much great book stuff here that we will need to visit again soon.Big Pile Of Books by...

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