You Are What You Read: A Trip with Kathy Ross February 12, 2013

Voracious Reader Welcome to the world of Kathy Ross; a book-laden adventure through sculpture.The sculptures shown here are part of her “travellers” series. Of the series Ross says, “It seems that for this lifetime I have been loaned a quantity of molecules from the universe’s available supply, and it has organized itself into a shape I call me. At the end of my time, I must give back this self, these molecules, to the universe, like…

The ‘Little Library’ in the Big Picture June 1, 2012

OK everyone, put on your long read hat and settle in. Shannon Mattern has a must read essay on the Design Observer blog Places titled Marginalia: Little Libraries in the Urban Margins. In it she looks at the recent rise of the mini, pop-up, guerrilla and ad-hoc library and tries “to figure out where they’re coming from, how they relate to existing institutions that perform similar roles, and what impact they’re having on their communities.” “Nowadays…

Introducing LiLi – A Library Cruiser April 17, 2012

Right on the heels of National Bookmobile Day comes the launch of the newest library liaison. Meet LiLi – Library Live and On Tour – a new initiative by the Fraser Valley Regional Library in British Columbia. Touted as the first of its kind in the world: Library Live and On Tour will shatter preconceptions about libraries, library services and librarians. Library Live and On Tour will deliver services to people in our communities who…

Have you hugged your bookmobile today? April 11, 2012

Today, right smack in the middle of National Library Week, is National Bookmobile Day! It’s time to celebrate the more than 900 bookmobiles that roam our communities providing essential services to those facing economic, geographic, or physical challenges that prevent them from being able to visit a brick and mortar library. John Amundsen’s piece at American Libraries, Bookmobiles: A Proud History, a Promising Future provides a nice overview of these vital mobile institutions: Bookmobiles…

The Knowledge Taxis of Cairo June 17, 2011

Egyptians on the whole are not big readers. So what’s a bookstore to do to try and help shift the cultural attitudes toward books and get people reading? Last year the ALEF Bookstores in Cairo came up with a brilliant idea. Since the streets of Cairo are in an almost continuous state of gridlock why not put books in the back of taxis so people can pass the time reading. The initiative, called “Taxi of…