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 a business. It is operated by all of us, whoever wants to make use of it. Each library has a librarian associated with it, a volunteer who commits to checking on the library regularly to make sure it is running smoothly.
Q: What is inside the Corner Library?
A: The Library could 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. CDs, DVDs, and other media we want to share with each other could all be part o the collections.
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 library operated there April through September, 2007. Since then Corner Libraries were briefly installed at a few different locations in New York City as tests. 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.
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. Of course, we are also interested in library patrons and contributions to the libraries, especially in the neighborhood where you live or work.
