#alternative libraries

[feministlibraryonwheels]

Aunt Flo cuts the ribbon on our full-of-books F.L.O.W. mobile at the Blessing of the Bikes on September 13th, 2014.

Photo by Randy Perry.

[libreas]

LIBREAS Call for Papers #26 - Abridged English Version.

Of course, LIBREAS is always open for contributions in English as well wherefore the current call for papers in a shortened translated version is right here: 

Alternative Libraries 

There is an obvious trend towards libraries and library related cultural forms (think of the Occupy Wall Street Library or all those Little Free Libraries) which have only minor or even no intersections with the traditional and established institution called library. Subcultures, as well as protest communities or simply book affine neighborhoods, tourist offices and even municipalities establish easily accessible, often crowdsourced, sometimes just makeshift varieties of library services, often very strongly oriented to specific interests. LIBREAS’ issue 26 wants to reflect the reasons for this trend. Additionally, we ask whether established libraries are faced with alternatives not only in the digital field, but also in the analogue world?

The deadline for contributions will be around October 30, 2014. Any material should be mailed to [email protected]. If you have any questions publishing in LIBREAS please get in touch directly with Ben Kaden via [email protected]. (Berlin, September 4, 2014)

[sarahlibrarina]

[skybrarian]

The bookstore Libros Schmibros is located on a block of buildings in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights that's far better known for its greasy burritos than it is for literary culture. But David Kipen's tiny bookshop with the funny name is quite obviously not a pretentious place for out-of-work writers to sneer at the covers of novels. Instead, he's cultivating a new kind of enthusiasm for reading with personal recommendations and a sense of community that cash-strapped local libraries can't always provide.

Kipen, a self-professed "white guy with Yale Spanish," has created the closest thing to a public square for the local, mostly Latino community—a place where people feel just as comfortable camping out for the free wi-fi as they do stopping in just to use the restroom (as a patron does during our conversation). It's all the same to him, says Kipen, as long as they're reading. "Job number one is to get books into people's homes."