Pay phone booth repurposed as a tiny library — a “take a book, leave a book” little library.
I LOVE THIS — a creative reuse and community win!
This micro-library sits in Houston, Texas, outside local coffee house Black Hole — with a laundromat next door — near the University of St. Thomas and Houston’s Museum District.
(photo by me, Houston-based Unconsumptioneer, mollyblock)
Earlier Unconsumption posts on creative new uses for pay phones and phone booths can be found here, and library-related items here.
Bookshelf of the week, hands down.
This subway library has posters of books and scannable barcodes—zap ‘em with your phone to get a 10-page preview while you ride!
A cool project proposed by a group of Miami Ad School students. Commuters who scan a book’s title not only can read the first ten pages of that book, but can learn, via near-field communication (NFC) technology, which nearby library has the book. Read more about the idea on Design Taxi here.
Gotta say, this is a leading contender for bookshelf of the week.
To add to our posts about libraries, other book-related matters, and wine-related repurposing, there’s this:
An obsolete card catalog repurposed as a minibar.
Need we say more?!
(photo via The Sugar Monster on Flickr)
Today, in “things I love.”
Phone booths re-purposed as micro-libraries in New York City. (via Designboom)
I love urban interventions, especially when books are involved. (Check out this newspaper stand converted into a community lending library, if you haven’t already seen it.)
Anyway, this NYC phone-booth-turned-book-swap is a great addition to the group of repurposed phone booths featured previously on Unconsumption (here), which includes other micro-libraries in various cities.
Are there other repurposed phone booths that we — your friendly Unconsumption hosts — haven’t yet come across?
An $81 million library opened Monday at the University of Chicago.
And there’s not a book in sight.
Designed by architect Helmut Jahn, the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library provides 180 seats for students and faculty to study under a glass dome constructed from 691 panels, none of them exactly the same shape. The library also expands digitization and conservation operations for the university’s collections, which include a piece of a Gutenberg Bible and books printed on papyrus, ancient Egypt’s version of paper.
Fifty feet below ground on the Hyde Park campus, a system of five automated cranes retrieves and stores volumes that are sorted according to book size, not content. The new library has room for 3.5 million volumes in the underground area, which is not accessible to anyone but select library staff.
Check out this incredible video on how the University of Chicago’s automated library works.
Via markcoatney:
nypl:
Want to spend all night at the Library’s landmark Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, exploring everything from the Rose Main Reading Room to The Stacks (yes, The Stacks, which are rarely open to the public)? Well, on May 20, you have your chance. Renowned game designer and best-selling author Jane McGonigal has created “Find The Future: The Game” in honor of the 42nd Street building’s 100th birthday. Five hundred lucky people will be the first to play it on the evening of May 20, collectively completing 100 “quests” in teams of eight overnight (the first time NYPL has ever had an overnight event). Players - using smart phones - will receive missions to find objects from our collection, which will be strategically placed around the building. Once an item is found, players look at it, study it, feel its power and then complete a writing “quest.” For example, players might be asked to look at an old menu from our menu collection. After studying it and getting inspired, they use a laptop (either their own or one we provide) to answer the quest, “Design your ideal menu.” Each team will complete three or four of the quests. At the end, the most innovative answers will be made into a book that will wind up in our collections forever. I know, this sounds cool, right? So how do you participate in opening night? Complete a quest online - the most creative responders (18 and older only) will get a coveted slot. You can apply starting today. Registration ends at the end of April. If you don’t get a slot, don’t fret - anyone can play the game either online or at the Library’s 42nd Street building (with a smart phone) starting May 21. No Stacks, though - that’s only for opening night. So go!!! Register!!! And in the meantime, watch the amazing trailer McGonigal’s team put together above.
People of Tumblr: This is not an April Fool joke. Get cracking now.
Via nprfreshair:
Meet Monty: Yale University Law School is an intense place, and its library is no joke: It has soaring vaulted ceilings, stained-glass windows and giant chandeliers that hang from chains. To help students unwind, the library is offering a rather unusual checkout option: Monty, a Jack Russell-border terrier mix.