Book Patrol: A Haven for Book Culture

Book Patrol is a place where you can share in Michael Lieberman's passion for the printed word, the history of the book as an object and as a cultural artifact.

Monthly Archives: November 2011

Nov 16, 2011

The Life and Death of the Great American People’s Library

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 It started innocently enough. A place where the demonstrators and occupiers could feed their mind while they did their duty to try and bring about a just, sane society.

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Before long the smattering of books had evolved into a fully-functioning public library. Books were coming from everywhere, there were readings, events and even a reference desk to help with the most basic and complex questions. It was a library that would have made Andrew Carnegie proud. Carnegie, whose gracious donations were responsible for the building of over 2500 libraries in the late 19th early 20th century, believed that giving to the "industrious and ambitious; not those who need
everything done for them, but those who, being most anxious and able to
help themselves, deserve and will be benefited by help from others." In other words the 99%!

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 When I first wrote about the People's Library at the end of September I said:

"I am hoping that there is a librarian amongst them who can catalog the
entire contents of the library so that it can be used as a starting
point for similar events in the future and of course, simply for the
historical record"

It wasn't long before all my hopes came true. Through their unending passion for books, justice and democracy a slew of volunteer librarians had pulled it off! All 5,500+ books that were contained or had passed through the library are now documented on LibraryThing. It seemed at times that the feats of the People's Library and their sister libraries that were popping up around the world were getting as much attention as the Occupy Movement itself. There was so much for all of us with the book gene to be proud of. It was almost too good to be true.

And it was.

In the dark of night on November 15th the People's Library at Occupy Wall Street was destroyed. A public library in a so-called democratic society completely destroyed in a coordinated, deliberate and intentional fashion.

The day is destined to live on in infamy and Mayor Bloomberg will rightly take his place next to Hitler, whose coordinated book attacks in May of 1933 attempted to silence the opposition.

In an effort to stem the backlash Mayor Bloomberg's office tweeted the following:

"Property from #Zuccotti, incl #OWS library, safely stored @ 57th St Sanit Garage; can be picked up Weds yfrog.com/nzdr7ndj"
This picture accompanied the tweet:
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Though clearly the picture doesn't show everything contained in the library, a collective sigh of relief filled the air. Of course, those first stories couldn't have been true. There was no way that anyone in their right mind would completely destroy a library under the guise of needing to do a little sanitary and fire prevention work in the area.

Earlier today a few volunteers went to retrieve what remained. Armed with this list of the contents of the People's Library:

  • Between 2,000 and 4,000 books (we’ll know if it looks right when we
    see it ), this includes five boxes of “Reference” materials many of
    which were autographed by the authors;
  • Our custom made “OWS library stamps;”
  • 5 (4?) laptop computers;
  • Our wifi device;
  • miscellaneous paper supplies;
  • A round portable table;
  • a rectangular portable table;
  • 6 metal shelves (five of which had been set up in two pieces);
  • three sets of wooden drawers;
  • a periodicals spinning rack;
  • Approximately 60 plastic tubs/bins of varying sizes (most small, but several big);
  • archival materials (I was starting to collect some stuff in the library);
  • posters (including many original posters created by OWS participants);
  • two lamps;
  • four solar lights;
  • 7 (or so) chairs;
  • a wooden dinner table (that was our’s right?);
  • periodicals/newspapers/zines (not counted in our book total);
  • our awesome tent;
  • signage;
  • personal belongings of librarians;

and what did they find?

“There are only about 25 boxes of books; many of the books are
destroyed. Laptops here but destroyed. Can’t find tent or shelves.”

“Many books destroyed. Most equipment -and structures missing. . . most
of library is missing (ALL of the reference section btw), damaged or
destroyed."

and they took a picture of this damaged Bible.

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Just imagine if the destruction of this Bible was carried out by the protestors.

Then, like a phoenix rising from the flames, came this tweet from @ANIMALNewYork  soon after the protestors were allowed back in to Zuccotti Park: 

  Someone just put down one book in the area where the People's Library used to be and declares, "We have a library." #ows

and here is an image:

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 Keep hope alive!

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Posted by Michael Lieberman on | Permalink |
Categories: Uncategorized
Nov 11, 2011

Lifecycle of a Book

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A worthy project from Publishing Trendsetter featuring young book professionals, in their own words, on the state of the publishing trade.

view larger pdf here

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A Pedophile’s Memoir. Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story

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 As the Penn State child rape saga continues to unfold and the horrors committed by former defensive coordinator and accused serial pedophile Jerry Sandusky come to light there will be a lot of second guessing and soul searching as to how such a tragedy was allowed to continue for so long.

One of the most telling signs and one that is almost impossible to believe is the title of Sandusky's memoir that was published in 2001, Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story.

The 'about the author' section on Amazon further states that "Sandusky is the founder of The Second Mile, a charitable foundations that has touched the lives of more than 100,000 children."

The
irony of Sandusky, the defensive coordinator, going on the
offensive against 10 year old defenseless boys is beyond rational
thought.

Though the book is no longer available on Amazon it hasn't stopped people  from "reviewing" the book in light of the allegations.

phillyBlurb.com has a piece titled, Jerry Sandusky's autobiography gets slammed on Amazon, in which the author ends by saying "I've never been one for burning books, but if I came across a
copy of this one, I'd light the match myself."

 Couple of thoughts about this utter tragedy and the seeming cover up:

First, this confirms once again that football is a very dangerous sport - with sever physical, cultural and social consequences. Of course Paterno should have been fired. The entire
program should be shut down immediately until a full investigation is
completed and there are guarantees that if anything close to this
happens again it is dealt with effectively within 10 minutes and not over 10 years.

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Posted by Michael Lieberman on | Permalink |
Categories: Uncategorized
Nov 10, 2011

Composition No.1: The First Book in a Box, Redux

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In the 1962 Marc Saporta published Composition No. 1.
It was the first published book that came in a box. Of course, there
had been books published in slipcases or that were laid in boxes for
many years prior to the release of Composition No. 1 but there
hadn't been one that consisted of single sheets laid into a box where
"each page has a self-contained narrative, leaving it to the reader to
decide the order they read the book, and how much or how little of the
book they want to read before they begin again."

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There
were no page numbers, no chapters, no table of contents. For their
third offering the forward-looking London publisher Visual Editions has
taken Saporta's work and filtered it through their progressive lens. The
result is a compelling production designed by Universal Everything, featuring an introduction by Tom Uglow
of Creative Labs Google and Youtube and illustrations by Salvador
Plascencia.  Plascencia has also created a chart looking at all the
different components that make up a “typical” book.

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 Here's the trailer:


Book available here

Other books from Visual Editions:
The Life and Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
Tree Of Codes by  Jonathan Safran Foer

Also worth noting - A portion of the funding for Visual Editions comes from the Arts Council of England which receives some of its monies directly from the Lottery! 

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Nov 04, 2011

Did Borders die from a lack of technology? – The Billboard of the Week

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 Now on sale at Borders amazon.com. 

Amazing billboard for Aaron Shapiro’s latest book Users Not Customers, a business book focused on how industries must transition intelligently to the digital marketplace.

Shapiro also hired a bunch of ex-Borders employees to set up roving book stands in New York City to promote and hand-sell the book.

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Piece in Adweek - Agency CEO Hires Laid-Off Borders Workers to Sell His Book

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