The Corner Libraries
Q: What is a Corner Library?
A: It is whatever we make of it. It is an opportunity for us to share something as friends and neighbors and to do something that will benefit people.
Q: Can you be more specific?
A: It is a small weather-proofed shed, about the size of the commercial news racks that line the sidewalks. The Corner Library, however, looks like a miniature version of a real library, and it is for sharing ideas and information within a local area.
Q: Who runs the Corner Library?
A: The Library is not operated by any business. It is operated by all of us, whoever wants to make use of it.
Q: What will be inside the Corner Library?
A: The Library will contain books and printed materials, whatever people want to put in it. It is meant to encourage alternative and private presses and the sharing of ideas. Books people have made or written themselves, photocopied 'zines, comics, self-published newspapers, and books you have read with your recommendations to the next reader are all possible inclusions in the Corner Library.
Q: When and where is this happening?
A: The first Corner Library (pictured above) was part of an interactive community project going on at the Lot near the corner of Chapel and Orange Streets, in downtown New Haven, Connecticut. The project ran April through September, 2007. Since then Corner Libraries were briefly installed at a few different locations in New York City. Now the K.I.D.S. is working on installing a bunch of libraries more permanently, which means complying with all city regulations on news racks, starting in downtown Manhattan and hopefully spreading throughout the world. We hope to place 50 Corner Libraries, complete with Corner Librarians, by April 1, 2009.
Q: How can I get involved?
A: Get in touch with Emcee C.M., Master of None. He is the contact person for the project and seeks input and collaboration from you and everyone else. We are especially interested in finding people interested in being Corner Librarians, especially in New York City for right now, which means being responsible for checking your local Corner Library once a day to make sure it is running smoothly.
