Three students and alumni from the Department of Art at the University of Minnesota have a project called Reading Rickshaw on Kickstarter:
The Reading Rickshaw aims to spread the word about art and books by offering patrons a ride on a 4-person bicycle fully outfitted with an art library. We seek to offer both mobile and stationary programming: Patrons can browse the permanent collection or pick a book from a temporary collection curated by artists, participate in mobile story hour, listen to artist lectures, and many more fledgling ideas. We will focus on creating a presence where a traditional library cannot go: parks, sidewalks, the lakes communities (land of 10,000=popular Minnesota activity), downtown Minneapolis/St. Paul, and high foot traffic neighborhoods. [emphasis mine]
It is interesting when non-librarians observe service gaps, brainstorm solutions and then take matters into their own hands. It sort of makes me feel like libraries aren’t living up to their potential. It is also interesting that often times they don’t consider partnering with established libraries. The IKEA ad I just posted is an example of that. So are the community book exchanges / tiny tomato gardens I see around Portland.
A related project: A group of folks involved with the Art Shanty Projects erected a library shanty on the frozen Medicine Lake:
Come hang out at the Medicine Lake Branch and create a library card, join a book clubs or enjoy the curated shelf-sized art exhibitions.
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