Posted in Literature
Last updated 07/25/2011 at 9:11 a.m. PDT
As Big Libraries Suffer, Micro-Libraries Spring to Life
Small, members-only book lending operations offer the personal touch
Patrons at Viracocha's Ourshelves Library can sit in a cozy nook to peruse titles.
Just two weeks old, the library is a project spearheaded by Kristina Kearns, a writer and editor who also works as a barista and a door person at a bar. In her spare time, she’s been amassing a carefully curated collection of what she calls “good fiction” and hard-to-find international authors like Scottish poet W.S. Graham.
“I can’t afford books. The economy is changing, the publishing industry is changing, and I wanted to provide this affordable option for people,” Kearns said.
She’s one of a handful of people who have been inspired by the depressed economy to create wallet-friendly ways to read books. Her initiative comes at a time when public libraries are suffering (although San Francisco’s are relatively robust) —in San Jose, volunteers were forced to start an informal lending program when the city failed to provide funds to hire a librarian.
And while private libraries have a rich tradition in the Bay Area —like the Mechanics Institute Library, the downtown S.F. institution that was founded during the Gold Rush— membership can be either difficult to acquire, expensive, or both.
Smaller, more informal libraries also allow for greater specialization.
If Kearns’ library, with its emphasis on the rare or esoteric, seems to be tailored to the writing crowd, it's because she has gotten shelves of books curated by Bay Area authors such as Stephen Elliott, Joshua Mohr, and Daphne Gottlieb —sort of like the literary version of staff picks shelf at a video store.
She has also had success soliciting donations from authors. Michael Chabon, author of “Kavalier and Clay”, allowed Kearns to come to his house, comb his personal library and take whatever she liked. Kearns added several of Chabon’s titles to the library and took others to the Friends of the San Francisco Library, where she was able to trade them for more books.
For Mission Local Eatery, a San Francisco restaurant that also functions as a community hub, education is a big part of its mission —which is why chef Jake Des Voignes started a cookbook library, which launched along with the restaurant in March 2010.
She’s one of a handful of people who have been inspired by the depressed economy to create wallet-friendly ways to read books. Her initiative comes at a time when public libraries are suffering (although San Francisco’s are relatively robust) —in San Jose, volunteers were forced to start an informal lending program when the city failed to provide funds to hire a librarian.
And while private libraries have a rich tradition in the Bay Area —like the Mechanics Institute Library, the downtown S.F. institution that was founded during the Gold Rush— membership can be either difficult to acquire, expensive, or both.
Smaller, more informal libraries also allow for greater specialization.
If Kearns’ library, with its emphasis on the rare or esoteric, seems to be tailored to the writing crowd, it's because she has gotten shelves of books curated by Bay Area authors such as Stephen Elliott, Joshua Mohr, and Daphne Gottlieb —sort of like the literary version of staff picks shelf at a video store.
She has also had success soliciting donations from authors. Michael Chabon, author of “Kavalier and Clay”, allowed Kearns to come to his house, comb his personal library and take whatever she liked. Kearns added several of Chabon’s titles to the library and took others to the Friends of the San Francisco Library, where she was able to trade them for more books.
For Mission Local Eatery, a San Francisco restaurant that also functions as a community hub, education is a big part of its mission —which is why chef Jake Des Voignes started a cookbook library, which launched along with the restaurant in March 2010.
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