Where's the Library in Leipzig?

In case you hadn't noticed . . .



We made it to Leipzig!

So, where's the Library in Leipzig?

First up, we're at the brand-spanking-new
mzin graphic design, pop + streetculture
shop - gallery - studio



Wann/When?
Donnerstag/Thursday 04.09.2008 * 13:00 - 18:00 hrs

Wo/Where?
paul-gruner-straße 64

You can catch the tram 10 + 11 -> station: hohe straße / bus 89 -> station: robert-schumann-straße

You can also mail 'em if you need to.


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Then, we'll be out and about @ SPINNEREI initially c/o Café Mule . . .




Wann/When?
Samstag/Saturday 06.09.2008 * 14:00 - 18:00 hrs

Wo/Where?
mule - cafe/garten, spinnereistraße 7


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You can also mail 'em if you need to.

Not bad for a day's library-locatin' we say. 'Nuff said.

Leipzig,
We look forward to reaching the parts other libraries have yet to reach!

***Today's library announcement comes with special Leipzig thanks to Simone, Leif & Suzanne***

Word.

Seattle Joins the Library. Librarian Joins Teenagers For A Free Meal. Sweet.

So. We have been installed at the raucous, righteous Richard Hugo House these last few days.

Raucous, cos the House is hosting its annual teen scribe event, which has meant a gaggle or group or we thinks cacophony of teenagers, hanging out round the corner from us and scribbling away all week in their notebooks a series of words which appear to be shock horror awfully like poetry. Ye gads. It's infecting us all! We had nothing to do with it . . . honest guv'nor. Mostly we've been ignored by the posse, except for the lovely young lady called Marcy who wandered over finally today to check out what this weird thing in the corner might be. So we promptly signed her up. She then dug the library enough to go off and find her own chair, which she then pulled over to us, borrowed an item from today's selection out on our table, and proceeded to sit and read. And since these guys get fed everyday our librarian has been getting a feed too. Alright! Four members on Friday makes it a medium day, except for what happened next:

Richard Hugo House also houses . . .



. . ZAPP the awesome zine library, which means that it's the kind of place our highly irregularly regular library member, Simone from Leipzig (who joined in Portland last month - see our previous blog posts for details) would more than likely want to check out. And just as we're packing up and telling Jesse on reception about our biggest library fan, who should walk in the door . . . but Simone. All the way from Portland. Who decided to visit ZAPP and then happened to check our blog on her way over to the House and discovered . . . her favourite library was also there! That's what we call Library Karma. And we love it. Nice one Simone.

Wednesday & Thursday at the House were much more chaotic, and saw us sign up 9 and 8 members respectively to the library, including a good number of the good folks who work there, as well as acquisitioning a new library item, after running through our Acquisition Policy with the chap who donated the item, while informing him that the Library's "Policies of selection, retention, disposal, misplacement and deterioration reflect the current state of the world."

Both days also caught us dealing with one of the basic ByeByeLaws of the library, namely #5a, which we'll take the opportunity to quote from ourselves here:
"5. Except with the consent of a library officer, no person shall:

a) who is offensively clean in person or in dress, or who is suffering from an offensive disease or hairstyle, enter or use the library."

It seems that Seattle does appear to suffer from an overpreponderance of offensive hairstyles.

We've caught two of you, blatantly out and about in the open, and attempting to gain library membership, which was given and then immediately withdrawn on the basis of said offensive hair. We then made you alter your hairstyles to what we deemed were mildly inoffensive variations upon the follicle theme, rescinded the ban and re-admitted you to the library. We're quite worried as we have a WHOLE ANOTHER WEEK to go in Seattle, and at this rate. Well. To put it mildly. That's potentially a whole lotta more offensive hair to go. Indeed.

Anyway. 72 hours of library mayhem equals =

Yay Seattle! You could slide into third place in the Library charts at this rate!

Meanwhile. Inbetween installing our library . . .







We squeezed in a spot of flyposting . . .


And

Saw

A lot

Of the Water

Around here



while remembering the cyclists of Portland . . .

Portland Library Love!

So. Our Portland Library Programme continues to be a resounding success, and in fact, is so super popular that our poor Librarian has been out and about installing the library so much that A. she's not seen that much of Portland; B. she's been too exhausted to post any further witty verbiage to the Library blog and C. she dun gone run outta Library cards folks. Still. Not bad downsides to an otherwise ecstatic Library run. After our first week of running round locating venues, people, sounds and a vague sense of geographical orientation, we came up trumps with our first library offerings: the IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) and Reading Frenzy (an Independent Press Emporium) have been great homes for the library and saw us notch up new members galore and ensure that our librarian had some awesome reading material to ingest from their respective fabulous text collections, inbetween signing up members, acquisitioning new materials to the Library Collection, and beginning to conduct our first ever User Response Survey. Freeskool Portland, a community education project, where you can learn or teach pretty much any useful skills you may want: "Connecting people from all walks of life to freely share their knowledge and skills" ('Education Without the Institution') also gave us an opportunity to provide access to the Library to some other folks. The FreeSkool people and both the IPRC and Reading Frenzy are not only homes from home for our Library & Librarian, they also provide a real sense of Portland's artistic community, and a glimpse into the creativity of the people living and working here. The IPRC runs zine camp for kids, has a cool printing space with photocopier, pens, paper, letterpress, typewriters and all manner of printing resources for people to come and use (and membership is very reasonable) while Reading Frenzy provides a great venue to distribute and sell the zines, books, pamphlets and independent magazines that come out of these creative mavens' heads. We say: Portland Rules! And what with the OCAC and a huge community of book artists and bike lovers, this place is brimfulla bootiful folks who know how to be inspired, inspire others and yep, make life that leetle bit tastier, which is what we're all about too. A match made in handprinted-text-heaven you might say . . . and here's the proof of the pudding, so to speak:

The Library & Librarian @ Reading Frenzy


Followed by signing up members in Colonel Summers Park, courtesy of the FreeSkool Portland Potluck Sunday














After outside we went indoors: The New American Art Union . . .


. . . where we installed the Library courtesy of The Spare Room Reading Series


Swiflty followed by a Library installation . . .


. . . in some Portland people's own home!












At this point we stopped to pontificate on the Portland Sky . . .


. . . Had a nostalgic moment of 'Laundry Days in the Mission', in pre-Portland San Francisco Life of the Librarian


. . . while our Portland couchsurfing hosts reminded us Not To Let The Cat Out

By which time it appears to be the third week in July, and thus only ten days or so of Portland Library Action Left before we provide our free travelling library of 'lost & forgotten' poetry for the good citizens of Seattle (Washington) and Vancouver (Canada) as we amble on in to August. . . Come Join Before We Travel On Folks, thaswhattawesay.

With thanks to Simone, Mattias, Ariana & Jeffrey for images, homes, food and hardcooooooore library action (you know you love it Simone!)