This summer I came across this amazing digital restoration of The Naturalist’s Library, originally created by Sir William Jardine in collaboration with a team of naturalists and illustrators, and published 1833-1843. Nicholas Rougeux is the designer behind the digital restoration project. My Modern Met has a nice write-up about the new resource.

Denver Public Library’s ideaLABs launched a decade ago, and are still going strong. Loving how they continue to be inspired and driven by their community’s use of these hands-on makerspaces.

I like this Item of the Week feature by the East Hampton Library, showcasing items from their Long Island Collection. What a nifty way to connect folks with objects in a local history collection that may be otherwise overlooked.

As usual, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is hosting something delightful. This season it’s a photography exhibition titled Unleashed: Pets of the Performing Arts. Broadway World has the write-up and some extremely charming preview images.

What better way for a library to commemorate its centenary than with the world’s largest pop-up book? That’s just what the LA Central Library decided to do, commissioning Chicano graphic artist and printmaker Daniel González to design and create the piece with help from paper engineer Matthew Reinhart. Book Riot has a nice feature on the installation.

Check out the Library & Museum’s About page to watch a video overview of the space and collections, and explore their collection highlights, which include materials such as Newspaper Comics, Gag Cartoons, and Underground Comix.

OSU’s Art Database contains many digitized materials from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. An entertaining starting point is with the “Browse Images” button; a click generates a new random assortment of images from the collection.

And, OSU’s Digital Collections also contain many objects from the Library & Museum, including this gem by cartoonist Barbara Shermund, who made cartoons for publications like The New Yorker.

In addition to the wealth of materials you can find, the Library & Museum also host or partner on programs and events, such as Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, coming up next in April 2027.

In the IArt Inspiration post series, we spotlight intriguing digital collections from libraries and other cultural heritage institutions. Do you have a favorite digital collection or platform that you would like to spotlight? Share a link in the post comments or send it our way to iartlibraries@gmail.com.

Can you tell us a little bit about the impetus or inspiration for the community quilt project?

Rachel Rivero, Librarian, Central Library: Before moving to Virginia, I worked at a public library outside of Houston, Texas. In the library’s stairwell leading to the second floor, there was a community quilt on display that I passed by every day. I thought creating one would be a great opportunity to collaborate with patrons and have a piece of art accessible to everyone in the community that was made by them.

Wendy Weldon, Librarian, Central Library: When Rachel asked for my assistance, I was super excited to support this project, as I knew it would be a tangible opportunity to showcase the talents in our community.

What was the process for inviting and engaging community members? Were some folks that the library and the collaborating artist knew already, folks new to you, or a mix of both?

RR: We collected squares for a month and had the event listed on the library’s website and on flyers throughout the branch. Patrons would bring the quilt squares to the front desk and tell the staff how excited they were to contribute something that they had made. We had a mix of anonymous donations and donations from people we often saw in the library. Wendy also hosted sewing classes in the Makerspace for teens and adults to help them contribute to the quilt.

WW: I’ve been working with the Stone House Quilt Guild, running teen and adult beginner courses. We’ve had a wonderful response from our community in learning how to quilt. Our intergenerational teen program features guild members working one-on-one with the teens. This year, their quilts will be featured in the Stone House Quilt Guild annual show for the second time. It’s wonderful to witness the relationships between these aspiring young quilters and their senior mentors.

Additionally, we recruited one of our most frequent patrons, Sharon Triska, to help us complete the quilt. Sharon is as much an avid reader as she is a sewing and quilting expert. She is incredibly talented, and we are so grateful for her time and talent in piecing the squares, quilting, and binding the quilt.

Were there any notable or memorable stories or anecdotes related to the community quilt that you’d like to share?

RR: It’s amazing to see all of the creativity and unique patterns in the quilt. One patron embroidered brightly colored tree frogs on a stark black background, and another sewed a raccoon wearing a cowboy hat and red bandana on a spring green background. Some were created by teens from a quilting program Wendy hosted at the library, and others by Friends of the Library volunteers. The best part for me is seeing their stories and their love of the library in the quilt.

WW: I loved seeing all the squares come together to reflect the diversity and creativity of our community. Some of our staff created their very first square for this project, which was fun to see their excitement and pride in their accomplishment. Our Youth Services volunteer, Faith Bolling, contributed some beautifully hand-cross-stitched squares. Sharon also contributed her own open-book square and finished our quilt square for Dewey, Central Library’s mascot bear. The process of piecing the squares together is most memorable, as Sharon took an overhead view of all the pieces while we moved them around to create the most aesthetically pleasing canvas, which is what you see adorning our library today.

For libraries or other cultural institutions that would like to organize a community art project like this one, do you have any takeaways or suggestions for them to consider?

RR: I recommend that you find someone in the community who knows how to put everything together, ask whether they can volunteer their services, and determine the cost. Having someone with the technical skills to make the quilt look its best, especially with a wide range of quilt square sizes, is one of the most important tasks to consider.

WW: Also consider tapping into your local quilt guild, as they are a wonderful source of time, talent, and donated materials. This was truly a team effort by library staff, the talents and time of our amazing patron, Sharon Triska, and the Stone House Quilt Guild, whose membership donated a great deal of the fabric used in this quilt project.

Can you reflect on how the community quilt project fits into the larger landscape of events and programs at the Prince William Public Libraries?

Rachel Johnson (Communications & Marketing Director): The quilt offers visitors a reason to pause and take in the details—each square a small piece of the community that created it. Projects like this reflect a larger part of what PWPL aims to do: give people space to create, learn, and connect. For those interested in trying quilting or other crafts, the library offers programs, online resources through the Digital Library, and a range of resources available through its collection at pwcva.gov/library.

Library Director Jennifer Patterson encapsulates this idea with the following:

Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

RR: We’re very excited for the opportunity to share our library, our community, and our community quilt with those outside of Manassas, Virginia. Without our patrons and our library staff working together, we wouldn’t have this beautiful work of art to share with others.

WW: There is an art in choosing colors and fabrics, then cutting and piecing them together in a pattern representing the quilter’s perspective and life experiences within each square. These squares form a tapestry reflective of the community our library serves. This tapestry illustrates the exquisite beauty of diversity. I’ve found a sense of peace in quilting, and I’m grateful to have this opportunity to share this art form with others so they can discover the same. It’s one small way Studio 8601, Central Library’s Makerspace, strives to build community.

For background on the Sustainable Materials Library and to set the table for the following conversation, check out this press release. Many thanks to Professor JD Beltran for answering my questions about the Sustainable Materials Library. In some instances, responses have been edited for clarity.

Building this collection and space in collaboration with students must have been really interesting for everyone involved. Can you tell me a little about any unexpected outcomes or moments that happened among the students and other folks involved in developing and building the Sustainable Materials Library?

All of the students involved were SFSU Design Majors, and this project was, for many, the first time they actually were required to source materials and to physically build something—build shelves and walls and cut tiles to mount and display the materials samples, as well as conceptualize and build exhibitions to show off the sustainable materials they had collected. They also had never dealt with the process of sourcing materials for a project.

The students gained skills in researching developments in the field of sustainable materials as well as in writing companies and inventors all over the world to source and arrange delivery of specific material samples to the college for the library. Many of the companies they contacted were thrilled to hear from us and send samples so that the sustainable products they manufacture became part of a physical and online resource for more sustainable products and construction.

The students were given the assignment to research and source any sustainable material they were interested in, anywhere, and then find a company or resource creating that material and communicate with them so that they could send them a 5”x5” sample for the library.

The students themselves never dreamed they would discover and access innovative, bio-based, and upcycled materials such as agave resin, cellulose cardboard, python leather, hempcrete, and recycled natural rubber. These incredible materials were sourced from all over the world, from innovative materials companies based throughout the United States as well as in New Zealand, Italy, Australia, British Columbia, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Over the course of the semester, the samples were delivered to the SFSU Design department, and everyone would gather around to see the student who sourced and ordered the material sample open the package and see and feel what the cool new material was like. We’d pass the sample around the whole class with ooohs and ahhhhs—it was sort of like Christmas!

Students also became proficient at building sustainable exhibitions to showcase the samples. They used found materials like leftover cardboard boxes, garage-sale cast-offs, and scavenged wood and tree branches from the small forest that surrounds the campus. They also learned how to use power tools like jigsaws and power drills to construct shelves and build the mobile walls for the permanent library—and came away from the project with lifelong skills and experience in actually building a library from the ground up.

Do you have any stories or anecdotes to share about whether and how people are using the Sustainable Materials Library, in person or virtually?

After SFSU Design’s first exhibition in 2022 showcased the library’s first set of 20 sustainable materials samples, press coverage of the library prompted Gail Lee, then Director of Sustainability of the University of California, San Francisco to seek out Professor JD Beltran about this resource. She had several lengthy meetings with Professor Beltran about the library project, and shared that she had been trying to determine ways in which the construction companies for UCSF’s own construction projects could be better educated about available sustainable choices in construction materials during the planning process.

They brainstormed the accessibility of other existing materials libraries [most of which did not emphasize sustainable materials and were expensive to gain membership access to, as well], and determined that expanding the library for access to not only the SFSU community but to the general public was key. Since then, the library has had multiple inquiries from creators and builders who learned about the library through research and press articles asking to visit.

One of our key collaborators is the City of San Francisco’s Environment Department, and its visionary Director, Tyrone Jue. In consultation with Director Jue’s department and staff, we are now collaborating in efforts to include information about sustainable construction practices and the sustainable materials resources at the SFSU Sustainable Materials Library as part of the key, mandatory process in obtaining any new building construction permit in the City of San Francisco.

Are there plans to continue working with the Sustainable Materials Library in upcoming SFSU courses, including those outside the School of Design?

This past year, after learning about SFSU’s Sustainable Materials Library, Professor Beltran was contacted by the California College of the Arts Graduate Design Program and learned of their graduate students’ research and invention of new sustainable building and product materials. As a result, the SFSU Materials Library now has eight new sustainable materials samples created by these students, and a continuing collaboration with CCA.

The SFSU Sustainable Materials Library was generously funded by SFSU’s internal climate agency Climate HQ, which develops and underwrites grants for new climate and sustainability projects every year. Through Climate HQ’s initiation of campus-wide partnerships, the Sustainable Materials Library has collaborated on sustainability projects with other departments, including the Comics Department to create and publish a graphic novel on microplastics and the Cinema Department to host a film festival featuring films about climate sustainability.

With the library’s launch, are there other thoughts or reflections you’d like to share?

The realization of the sustainable materials library over the past four years has been a dream come true for SFSU Design. To be able to have the university commit a gorgeous and accessible permanent space for the library, and then have Climate HQ contribute funding to fill it with greenery and furnishings. To have the support staff of SFSU Design Richard Ortiz and Justin Wong dedicate their efforts to co-designing and building the library infrastructure solely with sustainable materials—even inventing a novel hempcrete base wall display made completely of sustainable materials to show off the tiles. And then to have each of the 120+ SFSU and CCA design students fill this remarkable space with amazing sustainable materials samples sourced from all over the world has been simply incredible—truly an achievement of a lifetime.

Check out everything about the Sustainable Materials Library at SFSU over at their website, green-library.org.

I appreciate people’s brains so much. I love a beach anyway, but this giant installation by artist Es Devlin, featuring 2500 of her favorite books, really upped the ante. Read all about it in Smithsonian Magazine.

The Folger Shakespeare Library hosted Adjoa Andoh, MBE, in April as part of their inaugural residency for artists and intellectuals. I suggest taking a wander through the library’s website to explore their educational resources and digital collections. There’s great stuff to be had.

This initiative at Boston Public Library is activating underused spaces and equipment, helping users connect with the history of protest and printmaking through hands-on practice.

The Unbannable Library continues, most recently bringing their giant, unmissable, unavoidable book sculptures on tour at PEN America’s World Voices Festival in New York City.

If you’re reading IArtLibraries, chances are good that you already know the myriad resources available through public libraries. Who in your life might not be aware yet of all that’s available? Together, let’s share one of these general-interest features with our networks, like, today:

• Better Magazine, What You’re Missing at Your Local Library — and Why It Matters Now

• Wirecutter, My Favorite Streaming Service Is a DVD Player and My Library Card

Please introduce yourself and your role with NAMI in Minnesota.

My name is Danielle, and I am a Community Health Education Coordinator at NAMI Minnesota. In my role, I help develop and support educational programs that promote mental health awareness and provide resources to communities across the state.

Can you share a little about the impetus for the NAMI-facilitated Creative MindSets program?

Creative MindSets is a pilot program developed by NAMI National, and NAMI Minnesota is hosting sessions as part of this national initiative. The program was inspired by the Adobe x NAMI study, Creative Approaches for Managing Mental Health, which surveyed nearly 2,000 people ages 13 and older across the U.S. The study found that creativity can have a powerful positive impact on mental health.

Key findings include:

• 63% of participants said creativity improves their confidence in their abilities.

• 61% said creativity reduces feelings of stress or anxiety.

• 57% said creativity improves overall mental well-being.

The impact was especially meaningful for young people and individuals in the LGBTQ+ community.

Based on these findings, Creative MindSets was developed to intentionally use creativity as a tool to support mental wellness.

Was there a particular need or service gap that the pilot program is responding to?

Yes. The program responds to the need for accessible, community-based mental health supports that go beyond traditional services. Creative MindSets acknowledges the value of creative expression and provides funding and structured opportunities for people, especially young people, to engage in art as a way to support good mental health.

What is the structure of a Creative MindSets program or event right now?

The structure is simple and creativity-focused. Participants, primarily young people, are given about an hour to explore an art project. During that time, they are encouraged to connect their creative work to emotions and mental health themes in a supportive environment. Creativity is the main agenda, with gentle guidance around reflection and emotional awareness.

What makes public libraries a good fit for the pilot program?

This is the first time we are offering the program in public libraries, but they seem to be a strong fit because they allow us to meet people where they already are. Libraries often have the infrastructure to host community programming and frequently provide space at little or no cost. They are welcoming, accessible spaces that align well with the program’s goals.

Are there any plans or goals to make the Creative MindSets program more widely available after the pilot?

If the pilot is successful, I would hope that the program will expand and make mental wellness resources more accessible to more communities. Since Creative MindSets is a NAMI National initiative, decisions about broader expansion would be made at the national level, and I cannot speak specifically on their behalf.

NAMI is piloting Creative MindSets at many public libraries around the US. Check your library’s website or events calendar for local availability.

Tell us about Mountain Lakes Library and its makerspace.

Ian Matty: Mountain Lakes (NJ) is a small town with a very active community. The library is in a 100-year-old building that is just 5,000 square feet, and 250 of that is the library makerspace. The makerspace as a program and concept has existed for nine years, and is fully integrated in the library’s physical footprint and its daily functions, through our space, programs, and community engagement.

What is the makerspace’s origin story, and what are the broad beats of its evolution?

Christina [Kelly, co-founder of the Mountain Lakes Library Makerspace and Ian’s spouse] and I couldn’t find an easy place for our kid to learn and play chess with other kids. After speaking with the school district a couple of times about this, the district finally said, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ So, we created a chess club for elementary-school-aged kids. We outgrew the school quickly, and started bringing the club to Hapgoods. The environment was really informal and laid-back. Kids could learn by playing chess with other kids, parents would hang out with each other. People from other towns started coming in for the chess club. Then, some of the kids got interested in robotics. The tech part, but also the crafting, hands-on, building aspects. At that point, we had outgrown our restaurant space and were looking for a new location. And, we turned to the library.

Peggy, the director at the time, basically repurposed a closet for us to use. We raised money to get robotics kits, and we started meeting about weekly at the library with parent volunteers hanging out to help with the projects. Working and learning together was the driving force. It was all very hands-on, thinking about design, collaboration, problem solving.

In 2017 Jennifer Lynch, the library’s next director, took steps to intentionally incorporate the makerspace programming and physical equipment directly into the day to day work library, notably, transforming what was called the “reading room” into a permanent makerspace, and hiring Ian and Christina as official makerspace coordinators.

In what other ways did the makerspace become an embedded part of the library?

We integrate books from the library’s collection into our events and activities, and we regularly take over different areas of the library if we need more room than the makerspace provides, or to accommodate different audiences. Now we have all kinds of supplies and books. Wednesday nights are dedicated teen nights, Thursday mornings we do Little Makers in the children’s area with building activities, art projects, lots of books. Adults will pop in all the time to use the equipment. We don’t require badging or formal training to use the space.

We try to offer a lot of access points and to be as welcoming as possible. You can have space, and you can have machines, but it’s the people that matter. Whether your makerspace is 2000 square feet or 200 square feet, it’s the people that are the most important part.

Our team did a lot of professional development to learn about different technologies and expand our skill sets. Our aim is to offer learning opportunities that focus on a menu of skills. We embrace the idea that “everything is compatible” and that you can combine high- and low-tech resources to make something new.

The makerspace played a big part in shifting the role of the library from transactional to a center of community engagement. As people come in to take part in makerspace activities, they are also actively using and learning about all aspects of the library.

Tell me more about ways that the makerspace continues to be responsive to community interests and priorities.

One clear example is that over time, community members have started approaching us with ideas for large-scale public events, including Lunar New Year and Diwali celebrations. Our makerspace [motto] is “Showing what is possible,” and we really try to embrace that with our community, often just by helping people think through their event ideas and then supporting the event itself.

Another good story is about our library garden. That project was inspired by a high school student who was really interested in botany and wanted to start a garden. Even though that student has graduated, the garden is still maintained by local volunteers. With the garden, we were able to think creatively about our existing assets: space, people, expertise. It’s successful because we were able to tap into existing networks and connect specific people like Roxanne, who could take the idea and run with it. Roxanne found raised beds to use and even what she called “really good dirt.” We were able to extend the garden programming through a state grant that funded our seed library. Now, some families want to add a fairy garden. Anyone can be involved in planting, watering, and they can stop by and pick the vegetables — we had a family use the library garden spinach and radishes and share a recipe they made with them.

To follow news from the Mountain Lakes Library Makerspace, check out the makerspace newsletter.

Please introduce yourselves! What are your roles at Ann Arbor District Library and with AAFAX?

The Ann Arbor Fiber Arts Expo (AAFAX) team is made up of AADL staffers from all over the organization. We have a team of library technicians who lead the organizing of the event and help book presenters and work with our vendors, while a team of staff in AADL’s events, production, and marketing teams also support the expo as it gets planned and on the day of the event.

I’m always curious about how these kinds of community events evolve. How did the library come to be its home?

Fiber arts programming has always been popular at the Library and AADL also has a strong track record of putting on large festivals for the community. A group of AADL staff got together and pitched the idea and it was enthusiastically approved. Now here we are, four years later!

Can you share a couple stories or moments from a recent festival that help illustrate what makes this kind of event special?

AAFAX is for people who are really into fiber arts, but also for people with a casual interest, or who’ve lapsed in their practice. We’ve seen how AAFAX can spark brand new passions for different kinds of fiber arts activities, or rekindle the joy of crocheting, weaving, knitting, or getting crafty!

The local fiber arts community is notably strong, vibrant, and talented, and it’s wonderful to be able to connect these individuals. There is an excitement that can be felt at the event itself, like-minded people sharing interests and learning from one another.

I’m curious about large-scale events like this happening at libraries that obviously have a lot of staff working in all types of roles. What does internal communication about a big public event like Fiber Arts Fest look like at AADL? In other words, how does the event team aim to set up the whole staff (and therefore the event itself) up for success?

We’re fortunate to have the monetary and staff resources at AADL to be able to hold large events like this. We also have tremendous support from the community, who turn out by the thousands for our festivals and expos. Organizing these events takes a lot of people all across the organization and our process has gotten better and better the longer we’ve done these giant events and as we learn more and more about what works and what doesn’t. Planning for most of these events starts 10 months before the event happens, so it’s definitely a year-round process.

Are there key takeaways or lessons learned that you’d like to share with other libraries or similar cultural organizations when it comes to hosting a multifaceted community event like an arts festival?

AAFAX, like all of our big expos and festivals, came from an interest from the community. The best AADL programs and big events emerge when we identify an interest from our community and try to organize something interesting and amazing to meet that interest. With fiber arts, it’s been a hit!

To learn more about the recent and future AAFAX’s, check out the event page on the library’s website.

I’m Danielle. My role at the library is Special Projects Liaison. My pathway to working at the library was through education; I taught 5th grade for seventeen years. I have always been passionate about teaching reading, so the library is a great fit; I am still serving the community, just in a different way. I’ve been in this role for 18 months, and the Artist-in-Residence project has been a major part of my work so far. Seeing that initiative come to fruition has been hugely exciting.

Since many of our readers and I are not in North Carolina, what should we know about Cumberland County, and/or the library?

Cumberland County Public Library is a county department with eight branches positioned across the county. Geographically, it’s a very large and spread out area, is a mix of urban and rural communities and home to Fayetteville, the sixth largest city in North Carolina. Fort Bragg, the largest military installation in the U.S. is adjacent to the county, so we see many soldiers and soldier families using our libraries. My office is located in our West Regional Library branch, but I travel across our branches and work frequently with staff at the different branches, and with various local community partners.

Cumberland County Public Library recently launched an Artist-in-Residence program (Creative Collaborations1), with the first artist, Kia Love, taking up residency at the end of 2025. Let’s start with the background on that initiative — what was the inspiration for Creative Collaborations, and what needed to happen to actualize it?

The initial idea was inspired by an Artist-in-Residence initiative at the nearby Forsyth County Library. We saw a desire in our patrons for more art programming and a need for artists in our community to have spaces to create and share their work with the public. To plan and develop a similar initiative at Cumberland County, there was a lot of research on the front end. I researched which libraries had artist-in-residence initiatives (namely, Beaufort County in South Carolina, Enoch Pratt in Baltimore, and Forsyth County’s program in Winston-Salem, NC) and had many conversations with their staff about what worked and what lessons they learned from their experiences. That is one thing I love about the library world — people are not gate-keeping; they are so willing to talk with you and share information. Our local Arts Council was also incredibly helpful. They have an Artist-in- Residence program, so we were able to lean on them to understand what was reasonable regarding residency expectations and artist stipends.

To see the Creative Collaborations RFP or to learn more about the program specifics, reach out to Danielle at creativecollaborations@cumberlandcountync.gov.

What was the selection process like?

We took in public applications for a month. Artists were asked to share samples of their work. We specified a preference for visual art this year. Applicants were asked to share programming ideas that they could bring for all ages, skill levels, etc.

A panel came together to review applications and make a decision. Panelists included representatives from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, the Fine Arts program at Methodist University, library staff, the president of the Friends of the Library, and the director of Arts Education at the county school system. We wanted a panel with deep expertise and from organizations and institutions with similar community-driven missions, who know the role the library plays in the county, particularly as it relates to public arts programming. The first artist-in-residence needed to be comfortable with public engagement and teaching. There is an expectation that artists would spend at least ten hours a week in their library studio, and that library visitors could walk into that space, watch them work, ask questions or talk with them about their work. The artist would also be asked to host 2 public programs per month, totaling 14, for all ages, skill levels, and experience levels.

Tell me about the first artist-in-residence, fiber artist Kia Love…how is Kia’s time at the library going so far?

Kia really hit the ground running. She had one month to get her library studio space ready before public programming started in December. She’s hosting finger-knitting classes for kids, embroidery workshops, and patch-making workshops with teens. She is partnering with local high school classes to create sewing pieces that will be combined into a set of tapestries. Kia provided educators with curriculum ideas so that in addition to the hands-on practice, students are also learning the history behind tapestry-making, learning the vocabulary and the rich history of the textile industry in Fayetteville.

Kia’s holistic approach to public and community programming and her focus on human connection through art resonated with the Creative Collaborations panel.

You mentioned the library studio space…what can you tell us about that?

The studio aspect was a big draw for artists. This is a free, dedicated workspace for them at our Headquarters Library branch in downtown Fayetteville. It is actually a conference room that we’ve taken offline for this purpose. The idea is that each artist has the opportunity to tell the library what they need for furniture, supplies, and materials, and we outfit the space accordingly. Any equipment, reference materials, or supplies purchased for Creative Collaborations will remain with the library and be incorporated into our in-house or circulating collections. Coupled with their public programming, it’s a way to embed the artist, their work, and their knowledge directly into our collection for others to use.

Do you have any thoughts or strategies for onboarding and ensuring library staff are informed about Creative Collaborations? In other words, how can everyone be set up for success here?

Communication was huge. The library and county social media and public engagement teams helped keep staff informed throughout, even during the RFP and selection phase. We shared about the initiative during our all-staff day. I got that recommendation from everyone I talked to about library-based artists in residence — it’s so helpful to get everyone in a room and talk about it — talk about the studio space and the programming. Staff are seeing Kia at the main branch every day, and staff at other branches are getting to know her through public workshops. We have had previous hands-on, community-forward initiatives in the past, so this is familiar ground for staff.

What’s next for Creative Collaborations?

Ideally, we’re applying for funding to continue the project for a second year. We’d love to increase the number of artists to two or even three; we’ll need to think about what that means for our spaces, but it would allow for much more public programming and collaboration with schools, especially Title I high schools where 75% or more of the student population is on free/reduced lunch. In under-resourced schools, we know that arts opportunities are often first to go, so the library is really aiming to be a resource and fill those gaps.

Is there anything else you want to add or make sure we know?

That this would not have been possible without the help of our community partners and the libraries we connected with early on in the planning stages. As the name suggests, this is truly a collaboration.

Link to Kia’s portfolio/website

Stay tuned to the library’s website and social media to follow Creative Collaborations and see the culmination of Kia Love’s time at the library.

FB: Cumberland County Public Library

IG: @ccplnc

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I’ve seen circulating collections of art at libraries, but I really love that the Brooklyn Public Library’s recently launched Citywide First collection is composed entirely of original artworks. The collection itself is under the microscope here, posing questions about ownership, access, and what it means to have a personal relationship to art. Read the feature at ARTEFUSE.

If you have not encountered the Saint Heron Library, founded by Solange Knowles, I encourage you to explore the library’s catalog. Here you’ll discover rare, out-of-print books by and about Black and Brown artists, showcasing their creativity and scholarship. The library invites anyone who registers online to check out one title per borrower at a time, and will mail materials with complimentary return shipping.

I’d like to live inside the Story Shell at Barnsley Libraries in the UK. This giant inflatable pop-up space, designed by artists Steve Messam and Suzey Davey, can welcome up to twenty children at a time for performances, art workshops, and the like. The Story Shell appears at locations around the Barnsley metropolitan area and recently won an award for the innovative experiences it offers.

I love an unexpected discovery in a library or archive. For a horror film fan like me, this story has it all: a scholar stumbles upon original footage of The Cat Creeps, a 1930 horror film long thought lost, in the catalog at Indiana University Bloomington’s Moving Image Archive. Russell McGee, the adjunct professor who located the footage, is partnering with film historian Gary Rhodes to align the footage with the film’s soundtrack and dialogue, which Rhodes discovered in UCLA’s Film and Television Archive several years ago.

Winter is an excellent time to check out what your local library has to offer. Don’t forget any specialized libraries or archives nearby, too — museums, cultural centers, and performing arts spaces sometimes have special collections or archives that the public can visit and peruse!

The invitation arrived in my email early in 2025. I mentioned that I make art sporadically. An invitation like this is what I need to dedicate time to a creative project — there are some periods of my life where I have had what I’d call a creative practice, but really, that just hasn’t been the case in the last several years. The very act of reaching out to invite participation is just one way libraries can inspire new creative work.

Each of the 150 participating artists was assigned a year since Madison Public Library’s founding (1875-2024). Within their assigned year, there were 5-6 prompt or inspiration words that were added to the dictionary in that year.

My assigned year was 1952, and my prompt/inspiration words were:

1952 — Laura Damon-Moore — action painting, bad seed, droid, groupthink, Hawaiian shirt, meet-cute, memory bank, mother hen, superhelix

As you can see in bold, the word I chose to focus on in my piece was Hawaiian shirt, which made an early appearance in the writings of Graham Greene.1

My attraction to that word was immediate. Here’s a little audio story to explain.

I had my prompt. From there, I had loads of fits and starts. Would my approach be literary? Design? Design history? I’d mull an idea, and even put a few books on hold (shoutout to interlibrary loan and WorldCat!). I found a nifty quilt block pattern inspired by a Hawaiian shirt shape —maybe there was something there?

And then, while I was out riding my bike among Dane County’s rolling hills, it hit me: all I want to do when it’s warm, sunny, and beautiful in Wisconsin is to ride my bike. Could I make an artwork…on my bike?

That was a tipping point. I decided to design, ride, and document a bike loop in the shape of a Hawaiian shirt. I used the quilt pattern as a stencil and overlaid it on a vintage Dane County Map for Bicyclists from 1988. With some finagling, I found and traced a rough initial route.

After this very analog first pass, I wanted to plot out the route using an app that would allow me to share the finished loop for others to ride — one artifact of this artwork.

After striking out with Google Maps (way too cumbersome) I used Ride with GPS, on a friend’s recommendation. For a fee, this app allows you to plan a route, edit the cuesheet (turn-by-turn navigation), add photos and text to the map, and share the route publicly or with friends. If designing a bike route was to be my artwork, then Ride with GPS would be my palette.

Of course, plotting out the route is only part of the design process. Because my inspiration for the route design was an existing shape, my first pass took me into uncharted territory (for me), away from the series of trails and paths I frequent. I wanted to make sure that the loop was enjoyable and appropriate for bicyclists. That meant two things: I needed a thought partner who knows the county roads relatively well, and, I needed to get out there, experience the loop for myself, and make edits accordingly.

My friend Katie had recommended Ride with GPS, so she was a natural person to ask for some help in using the app to plot the route. She and I looked at Google Street View and other resources to preview roads we didn’t know well, and she was able to point out different features of the app and how to use them. We had one long-ish work session over breakfast, and I emerged with a route that deviated a little from the original analog shape to ensure a more bike-friendly path.

Now it was time to do some test-riding. I especially wanted to make sure the cues were accurate without being so detailed that a cyclist would get sick of hearing them. I started by making substantial edits to the cues in the app, deleting ones that seemed unnecessary or redundant, and adding more detail at a few points that needed a little extra context. Then it was time to hit the road and hear/see how a rider would experience it.

Here are some thoughts on the route design process:

I came away from the in-app design phase anticipating a loop of just over 60 miles. I decided to begin my test-riding with some short trips that would cover the first segment—about 20 miles—and then dedicate a whole day to completing the loop in one outing. I put it on the calendar for mid-September, on a weekend when my kid would be away at an all-day event and my husband could be “on call” if I needed a ride home.

The first short outings proved instructive, especially for figuring out what made for a “good” cue. The cuesheet went through a thorough round of updates after those initial trips. Here’s a short clip reflecting on one of those short test segments:

And finally it was time to ride the full loop. I made drawings of all the things I brought with me and was able to fit everything I needed in a pannier.

My husband kindly dropped me off with my bike and gear at the loop’s starting point, McDaniel Park in nearby McFarland, and snapped a photo of me (sporting a Hawaiian shirt, of course) to mark the occasion.

And then I was off! It was a stunning fall day, and on a Saturday morning, the busier roads were relatively quiet.

One of the things I looked forward to in making this piece was the chance to explore county roads that I had never pedaled or even driven before. This was an upside of using a shape as the basis for the loop. I purposely incorporated a portion of the Glacial Drumlin Trail into the route, even though that meant sacrificing a “clean” shirt collar shape!

The temps rose pretty fast and by midday, I was feeling it. I was super grateful for some stops along the way, including this gem of a moment when I pedaled to the top of a hill at the sourthern edge of Dane County and came upon this tiny Norwegian Pioneer Cemetery.

At about the 32-mile mark, I was feeling the heat of the day and needed a longer break. Luckily, the loop includes a convenient stop in Albion, where I discovered a town park directly across the road from the Albion Museum — another spot that I would never have encountered without this project. At the park I inflated my tires (there was a bike repair stand and everything!), swapped out my cute but not-breathable Hawaiian shirt for a tank top, scarfed some bananas, and reapplied sunscreen.

I started the second half of the ride energized and excited to check out Stoughton, which was the next town on the route. It turned out that this stretch was the part that needed severel updates, map and cuesheet-wise. Street construction hadn’t been obvious on the app and in Street View, but required a detour once I was there, and, one of the roads I picked turned out to be such a steep hill that I had to walk my bike. There were lovely spots, too — I found a stretch of the Yahara River Trail that was beautiful, quiet, and wooded; a nice change of pace after a lot of road travel.

At this point, I was feeling great. I was headed into familiar territory, specifically, Lake Kegonsa State Park, which I’d biked and hiked plenty of times. I stopped at the park for a water refill and prepared to finish up the last five miles or so. Unfortunately, when I went to make a left onto a county highway, I realized there was a bridge out and no way across a creek (for a moment, I considered portaging my bike, but let’s be real, by that point, I was hot, sweaty, and tired). Here’s a little tidbit from that moment:

There were no great solutions — that spot on the map is tricky and my options were to: backtrack a whole bunch, risk biking on a busy state highway (not happening), or cross said highway and cover some of my previous loop tracks. I went for option #3, so my ultimate “heat map” ended up looking like a shirt with one bedraggled sleeve cut off, not unlike how I was feeling physically by the end.

I ended my loop back at McDaniel Park, and after another break and some more water, decided to ride home rather than get picked up. It took me about five hours all told, and I ended up covering about 74 miles, about twelve miles longer than I anticipated. But — I had the information I needed to refine the route, incorporating what I learned along the way and keeping the awesome parts I discovered. With that, the Hawaiian Shirt Bike Loop - Take Two was born.

Any Ride with GPS users out there can use this link to find the route in the app.

Once the route felt like it was in a good spot, I needed to figure out how to “show” my piece in the actual library exhibition. I decided on a sort of collage board with postcards, QR codes to some audio diaries, and a nice colorful copy of the Map for Bicyclists, complete with mini Hawaiian shirt quilt shape to demonstrate how I designed the route in the first place.

From one art-maker’s perspective, the 150x150 invitation opened up a sort of marvelous channel in my thinking. We talk about “moments” of inspiration; for me this process required many, many moments of redirection, backtracking, rethinking. There were a few moments of inspiration, but maybe they were more like moments of energy, helping me tumble forward to the next phase of work. Art is work, but gosh, that work can be fun.

If you are in/around Madison, Wisconsin this winter, you can explore the 150x150 exhibition at seven library locations. This exhibition took months of planning and coordination on Team Bubbler’s end (the back and forth in emails with 150 artists alone, I can’t even imagine). But what a perfect way to celebrate 150 years of words, stories, and creativity at Madison Public Library!

Thank you, Laura, and IArtLibraries, for inviting me to share a day in my life as a Makerspace Librarian. The most challenging part of this exercise was deciding on the day. I wanted my record to be interesting to readers, but also authentic to a “typical” day—although my days always seem to differ.

Let me begin by introducing myself. I am the Makerspace Librarian—and one of the Adult Services/Reference Librarians—at Mead Public Library in Sheboygan, WI. I was promoted to Librarian at the beginning of this year, but I have served as the Makerspace Coordinator since 2016, and I have worked at Mead since 2010. In addition to my makerspace duties and reference desk work, I also facilitate a couple of our book clubs. I recently read and adored Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures, for the Book to Art Club, so I’ve decided to report my day à la Marcellus.

Year 9 of my service to the Imaginarium makerspace at Mead Public Library

CRAFTING SUITS ME.

(It does, but I’m only jesting about using this format.)

The truth is, my days are vastly different, and not all of them involve crafting or even the makerspace. Are you surprised? The best way for me to provide an accurate picture of what I do is to show you some snapshots of recent days, so I apologize for misleading you. This is actually a Days in the Life of a Makerspace & Reference Librarian.

I am fond of spreadsheets and checklists. I often think about a multitude of things and am easily distracted, so these tools help me stay on task. Plus, there is something satisfying about marking things as complete and shredding any paper reminders. I also use a lot of Post-its, color-coding, calendar reminders, and the occasional murder board to plan the layout and schedule of larger library events.

Day Sample 1: September 24, 2025

I began my day at 10 am due to evening programs. This particular day was more about adult services than the makerspace. I performed my usual email check and responded to Slack messages. On Wednesdays, my colleagues and I share pet pictures on Slack, so I picked out and posted a recent image of my dog, Chrysanthemum (Mumsy), and briefly gazed at the pets of my coworkers for a quick happy fix before continuing my work. I spent the remainder of the morning reviewing Tony Wright’s Things Aren’t Right: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five for his visit later that day.

The early afternoon involved reference desk coverage and clearing our Jerry Black Café (JBC) space of people at 3 pm for maintenance to clean the tables and assist me in rearranging the space for the author’s reading and signing. At 3:30 pm, I returned a phone call to our visiting author, Tony, who had just arrived at his hotel after driving from his home in Michigan. We briefly discussed parking logistics, and Tony arrived at the library just before 4 pm.

While waiting for Tony, I greeted and directed attendees for his visit to the JBC. After getting settled in, I asked Tony to introduce his book by reading an excerpt. Afterward, we invited questions from the audience and finished with book signings. I snapped a few photos of Tony in front of our library on our walk over to Umi Sushi and Steak House for our Moonlight & Murder book club discussion at 5:30 pm.

We had a full group of sixteen people at our discussion, and after introductions, the group discussed Tony’s book with him and inquired about his upcoming and past projects. Tony was a delight to host, and the attendees and I genuinely enjoyed discussing the unsolved crime case of the Yuba County Five with him. We all had our own theories.

After dinner and discussion, around 7:20 pm, I walked Tony and a book club member back to their cars at the library and wished them safe travels before heading home myself.

Reflection

This day was filled with fun, excitement, and a bit of anxiety. Everything went well, but I felt as though I arrived at work and hit the ground running, only to breathe a sigh of relief when I arrived home because the day was a success. This program was scheduled a year earlier, and I’d felt a lot of pressure for it to go well for Tony, my library, and the patrons who participated.

Day Sample 2: September 29, 2025

Mondays are my evening desk days. Since I’ll be working a six-day week and covering Saturday’s desk all day, I was not scheduled for any desk shifts before 5 pm. I was also able to work the first part of my day at home. I tend to get more planning, writing, and ordering responsibilities done in the comfort of my living room, which is sunny, cozy, and quiet. Mumsy typically curls up near me or watches out the window, only interrupting me when it’s time to take a break to walk or eat, and I like listening to music in the background while I work.

Officially, I was scheduled to work 11 am-8 pm. Since I was working from home, I started early and enjoyed my morning coffee as I wrote a letter of recommendation for a well-deserving community partner who had been nominated for the ATHENA Leadership Award. This was finished around 9 am, and by then Mumsy was ready for her morning walk.

Around 10 am, I added to this article. I had been working on it over the past week, but I found it difficult to write about a single day. I caved and decided to include a sampling of several days based on my calendar. I worked on this until I paused for lunch.

I began my afternoon ordering supplies for upcoming makerspace programs and replenishing our 3D printing lab’s filament stash. I expected this to take me half an hour, but it actually took closer to an hour as I compared prices and tried to ensure that we have a balanced color assortment of filaments for our patrons to choose from. At this point, Mumsy and I took another walk and had some snuggle time afterward.

Around 2 pm, I worked on ordering materials for my collections. I manage our Travel, Maps, 400s, 500s, 900s, and, of course, Makerspace Reference. The latter is morphing into a digital resource collection for the makerspace equipment since we have limited shelf space in the Imaginarium for reference books, and there are circulating duplicates of the books I purchase. The subscribed digital resources in the Imaginarium include Glowforge Print, Cricut Design Space, Silhouette Studio, and Adobe Creative Cloud.

I arrived at the library for my evening desk shift, 5 pm-8 pm, and touched base with the colleague from whom I was taking over the desk. During my shift, I assisted patrons with finding and requesting books and movies, looked up a few addresses and phone numbers for patrons who requested them, helped someone search in our Local History collection, restocked our drop-in coloring table, and primarily assisted patrons with phone printing. I also checked and responded to Slack and emails, notably one regarding the Saturday quilting program that we had just hosted, and reviewed my meetings for the next day. At 8 pm, we closed the library, and I headed home.

Reflection

The day was gorgeous, and I felt happy and relaxed. The extra sunshine and setting change helped me achieve a productive work day, and the evening at the library flew by without incident.

Day Sample 3: September 30, 2025

Today was all about meetings, programs, and meetings about programs. I began work with a 10 am meeting about the new 3D printers that will be installed on our Youth Service’s floor. (Despite what my sampling is showing, I typically start around 9 am on days without evening programs.)

The meeting was with a newer colleague who is also taking on our tween programs. She plans to incorporate 3D printing into more youth programs due to public interest. Our current policy is that the Imaginarium makerspace is for adults and teens, grades 6-12, while younger children have programming in our Children’s Activity Room (CAR). This leaves tweens truly split between children’s and teen programming. We are making efforts to create programs for ages 9-13 specifically, while still including those ages in the existing teen and children’s programming.

This meeting focused on what the Youth Services’ 3D printing offerings would look like for the public and creating use policies that are consistent with the Imaginarium’s equipment use policies. We were unable to decide on everything in one meeting, so tomorrow I will be scheduling a Makerspace Steering Committee meeting for the near future so we can meet with our colleague and look over today’s ideas and questions, and hopefully solve enough of them to make the Youth Services 3D printers available for public use soon.

Our hope is for my colleague to be able to set up appointments with tweens for 3D printing and to allow parents, who are badged (trained), to use the Imaginarium’s 3D printers with their children instead of bringing young children into the Imaginarium, which is designated for older children and adults. I will continue to manage the badging appointments in the Imaginarium.

For the past nine years, I have been performing nearly all of the equipment badging except for the sewing machines. For those, I defer to our wonderful volunteer who also teaches our beginner and advanced sewing workshops. Due to a significant increase in requests for the makerspace equipment, I can no longer meet the demand alone, so I am training two colleagues to assist. We now also include badging in our Learn to 3D Print, Cricut Snippets, and Learn to Sew series curricula.

At noon, I met with the same colleague from earlier and a community partner off-site who will be bringing her art expertise to two of our new programs: Tween Art Club and Tween Book to Art Club. I am thrilled that we have a group of 16 tweens registered to discuss Kwame Alexander’s Booked: The Graphic Novel next week for our first book discussion! We will be making dragonfly boxes.

The meeting focused on supplies and logistics for next week’s program and included a tour of The Sheboygan Collective's amazing studio space, created by Whitney Morales. We are fortunate to have her as a partner, and I am looking forward to these tween programs. While the programs get underway, my colleague and I will both staff them, but I will be turning them over to her for the next season.

At 1 pm, I was in the Imaginarium overseeing Open Makerspace time until 3 pm. It was a slow day for patron attendance, so I organized some supplies, rearranged the tables for the evening’s Soul Collage workshop, and 3D printed some Steampunk elements for our upcoming Steampunkins craft for the adult Craft-Tea Morning, where we craft a specific project and sip tea on the 2nd Saturday morning of each month.

After finishing up in the Imaginarium, I checked my emails and Slack and made notes of things to order before attending my 4 pm meeting. This last meeting was between our manager, who is leaving at the end of the week, the two colleagues whom I am training to assist with badging appointments, and me. The purpose was to see how the badging training is going, to check on our progress with writing cheat sheets for patrons on the equipment, to make final purchase requests for programs and the space, and to discuss my handing off some of my makerspace programs to one of the colleagues who just started a couple of months ago.

Just after 5 pm, I checked in with my instructor for the evening’s Soul Collage workshop to ensure she had everything she needed for setup and to check on her supplies. During the program, cards are collaged, journal notes are made, and after a deck is created, readings can be performed. This series of workshops is popular, and we go through materials fast since each participant makes several cards per session. My instructor and I also briefly discussed dates for her winter series, and I left her to her program and headed home around 5:30 pm.

Reflection

The day passed by so rapidly that I felt as though it all ran together. It was more of a day of determining additional work than a day of completing anything.

Final thoughts

Despite my best efforts, my days are typically chaotic, and I thrive on that while wishing for more serenity. Also, I wish it were a couple of months from now so I could share a picture of my WinterGreen event murder board.

Thanks again to our guest writer, Ann Miller, for capturing some field notes for IArtLibraries! For more information about Mead Public Library and the Imaginarium, visit the library’s website.

Dr. Carla Hayden, former Librarian of Congress, will serve as a senior fellow with the arts and humanities-supporting Mellon Foundation, with an emphasis on public information literacy (link to AP article).

This Getty Podcast episode offers a deep dive into artist and collector Harald Szeemann’s self-proclaimed “Museum of Obsessions,” his personal archive and research library.

The quaint mini book boxes known as Little Free Libraries in my neck of the woods have made their way to Parramatta in New South Wales, Australia, as a city-coordinated placemaking project, where they’re known as “Street Libraries.”

I really enjoyed this write-up from LitHub about an immersive theater-dance performance that popped up in the Rose Main Reading Room of the New York Public Library’s main branch.

This exhibition at London’s Senate House Library showcases the design of “spineless” publications from over five centuries. Formats range from manifestos and political pamphlets to ballads and broadsheets.

That’s what I’ve got for today, and we’re taking a break in September. See you back here in October! ~Laura

Since emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hat has quietly left thought-provoking, colourful pieces across the region – often outside cafes, pubs and charity shops, encouraging them to auction the artwork for good causes (source).

Libraries seemed to play a crucial role in the mystery stories I read and loved as a kid. Characters were always going to the library to do research, searching out old newspaper articles, maps, and diaries to find a critical clue. As a mystery lover who grew up to be a librarian, I loved that I got to help people uncover clues in their own personal mysteries — tracking down a long-lost personal ad, guiding people as they traced their family trees, pointing people in the direction of the shelf where I knew the geocache was tucked away.

If you happen to be in the Suffolk, UK region, perhaps you can take a day trip to Framlingham Library. For readers too far away to check out the mysterious art exhibition, I hope you’ll explore your own local library, historical society, or archive soon. You never know where it might lead.

For more, check out: Framlingham Library

Sidenote: We featured Suffolk Community Libraries in 2024 with an article on their youth programming series titled Blank Page.

Featuring: Blank Page at Suffolk Libraries

IArtLibraries: Please introduce yourself, the community, and the library. What should we know about Lake Macquarie?

My name is Alessandro de Franzoni, and I have had the privilege of leading the Outreach team at Lake Mac Libraries since last year. Our library network includes ten branches and a Home Library Service, supporting a vibrant and diverse community of over 200,000 residents across the expansive Lake Macquarie region - just 90 minutes north of Sydney, on the east coast of New South Wales.

Lake Mac Libraries are known in the local Awabakal language as kawumalyikilba, meaning “gathering place,” as Lake Macquarie City Council is proud to have been one of the first in Australia to adopt dual naming across all its cultural facilities, acknowledging the Awabakal people as the traditional custodians of the land.

Given the city’s vast geography, our libraries serve as essential community hubs - places of connection, learning, and creativity. We have evolved well beyond traditional library services, embracing digital inclusion, cultural engagement, and responsive programming. From the innovative Fab Lab to dynamic outreach initiatives, our goal is to ensure that knowledge, creativity, and culture remain accessible and relevant to all members of our community.

 Tell us about the Creative Cart. What was the impetus for this initiative? Why is a traveling library station/cart a good fit for the challenge you were working on?

The Creative Cart is part of a bold step in reimagining how Lake Mac Libraries delivers outreach. It was developed as a flexible, mobile tool to help us better connect with residents who may not yet be aware of the free services and programs we offer, and to re-engage those who do not regularly visit our branches. In a city as geographically diverse as Lake Macquarie - spanning coastal towns, lakeside suburbs, and bushland communities - mobility and visibility are key to reaching people where they are.

The Cart was designed to have a vibrant look (the design created by local artist Reid McManus has been a conversation starter by itself) be recognisable and highly adaptable, allowing us to bring the library experience directly into the heart of the community. We were looking for a sustainable, agile solution that could support a wide range of activities and engage audiences of all ages - from preschoolers to seniors. Rather than focusing solely on traditional programming, the Creative Cart enables us to deliver creative, hands-on experiences that foster connection and raise awareness that libraries are accessible and relevant.

Can you tell us one or two recent examples of successful connections, events, or projects that have happened with the Creative Cart?

The Creative Cart has allowed us to better showcase some of our more innovative library services - particularly those that many residents may not yet be aware of. For example, we have used the Cart to highlight our gaming collection, which includes family-friendly Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch games available for loan, as well as gaming consoles available for use in select branches. At several community markets, we recreated a mini-library experience where children and families could try out these games in a setup similar to what they would find in-branch. It was a great way to spark curiosity and start conversations - especially with young people who might visit the library for the games but then discover everything else we offer.

Another key success has been using the Creative Cart to re-establish a presence in parts of Lake Macquarie that do not have a library branch nearby. While the Cart is not intended to replace a mobile library - our Home Library Service already supports residents who cannot easily travel - it has served as a valuable pop-up presence in these areas. It gives us a chance to connect with residents who may feel disconnected due to distance and the geography of the city, and to offer a taste of what the library can provide. These are just two examples, but they reflect the Cart’s strength as a dynamic, adaptable outreach tool - one that supports everything from school visits and festivals to shopping centre pop-ups and local events.

What do you hope to be able to do or achieve now that the Creative Cart is part of Lake Mac Libraries? Is there anything we have not asked that you would like to highlight?

I’ve touched on some of this earlier, but the truth is we’re still discovering the full potential of the Creative Cart, as it has only made its debut at last year’s Living Smart Festival in September - one of Lake Macquarie City Council’s flagship events and one of Australia’s largest community sustainability festivals. We chose the name “Creative Cart” to reflect our vision: delivering fresh, flexible, and inspiring programming that responds to community input and reaches people across the city in new ways.

Looking ahead, we are exploring the possibility of making the Cart available for community hire, depending on operational feasibility and demand. It is still early days, and I believe we have only just scratched the surface of what this cart can do.

The Cart complements a broader push for innovation within Lake Mac Libraries - from our Library of Things and digital collections to the expansion of self-access services across branches.

To learn more about Lake Mac Libraries and to follow Creative Cart happenings, check out their website.

IArtLibraries: Please introduce yourself! Who are you, and what's your role at your organization? What should we know about the library and the community?

Sarah Dempsey: My name is Sarah Dempsey and I am the Executive Director of Butler Public Library. We serve a small, rural community on the east side of DeKalb County and our library district totals a little over 2,600 people.

I grew up in this community, graduated from its school system, left it in 1987 and returned to it in 2002. My family, like many, have lived and worked here for generations. We are proud of our heritage. Our [free, little] art gallery is a representation of our long demolished train depot here in Butler, which delivered and transported citizens via the Wabash railroad for many years.

What can you tell us about the inspiration for a Free Little Art Gallery (FLAG) at the library?

The impetus for our FLAG really began with representatives of Garrett Museum of Art, here in DeKalb County. Their organization's goal is to place these galleries throughout this County and to encourage, provide and showcase art from our community members. Through their gracious work, we only needed to agree to the project and provide a place for the FLAG to be installed. GMoA financed the entirety of our project, from the materials needed to the artist who designed and completed the gallery.

Currently, our FLAG, which we have christened "The Art Depot" greets all who come in our front door, so there are endless opportunities to talk about the concept of "give and take" art. We have already built a small collection of finished pieces from the public and have encouraged participation by providing 3" x 3" canvases for any visitor to take and create (with the hopes that they will share). Although a novel concept for this area, the idea has taken hold and we have received dozens of favorable responses. We are hopeful that this will be a fixture in our community for many years to come.

To see what else is happening at Butler Public Library, check out their website.

This profile of Lynn and Bruce Heckman, longtime collectors of “book-shaped objects” is lovely. Their collection, which spans items like book-shaped boxes and miniature charms and lockets, is now at the Watson Library at the Met.

A new partnership with KU Libraries offers digitization support and provides an online home for the Cottonwood literary magazine.

The UT Architecture Library has a new name to honor one of the university’s first Black students and Texas’ first Black architect, John Chase.

An artist residency program at Yale University Libraries invites artists and creatives to explore and engage with the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Using stories from the collection, artists in residence will imagine new works, from plays to poetry to visual pieces.

Earlier this year, The New Yorker magazine celebrated a century of publication. This writeup from the Daily Cartoonist previews the many interviews, retrospectives, and exhibitions honoring the magazine’s raft of cartoonists past and present.

This lecture-meets-workshop series hosted by the City of Boulder offers discussions and explorations on different aspects of public art-making.

A couple of years ago, we featured a deep dive on the NYPL’s Harvey Fierstein Theatre Lab while it was still in its planning phase; it’s now open for business at the Library for the Performing Arts.

The platform’s carousel offers plenty of pathways for browsing, and there’s load of visual gems in their collections, from historical Travel Posters and Movie Posters to Fruit Crate Labels (“Finest Coachella Grapefruit,” anyone?) and plenty more.

Exhibits in Tessa offer curated samplings around a particular theme, event, or era, such as Industry in Our Backyard or Yokohama to Los Angeles.

You can read about the everyday workings of the library through Stories, as library staff members reflect and share about their work through the lens of the archives and special collections.

In the IArt Inspiration post series, we spotlight intriguing digital collections from libraries and other cultural heritage institutions. Do you have a favorite digital collection or platform that you would like to spotlight? Share a link in the post comments or send it our way to iartlibraries@gmail.com.

IArtLibraries: Please introduce yourself -- who are you, what kind of library work do you do, and what's your connection/role with the Edible Book Festival?

My name is Heidi Herr, and I am the Librarian for English, Philosophy, & The Writing Seminars, and the Special Collections Student Engagement Librarian at The Johns Hopkins University. Back in 2014, I, along with a former colleague who nearly surpassed me when it comes to obsessions with books and desserts, thought it would be fun to host an edible book festival! Fun it was, and I have been managing, organizing, and hosting it ever since, along with my incredible undergraduate student employees.

Reflecting on ten years of organizing the Edible Book Festival, what would you say are the most significant changes or lessons learned that you've implemented?

Having run the event for a whole decade, I have to say that the community of Hopkins absolutely loves to eat books! What started as a relatively small-scale event geared toward undergraduates, has since become a full-fledged Hopkins tradition, with nearly five hundred people in attendance each year. Our bakers and tasters also include faculty and staff, giving our entire community an opportunity to take a break and enjoy some sugary eccentricity!

While the concept of “eating books” is indeed whimsical and perhaps a bit strange unless one is a goat, one of the big changes I have strived for is dietary inclusivity. The first few edible book festivals were a bit of a learning curve simply because there is so much planning involved to make it both enjoyable and well-organized, that certain considerations simply fell under the radar. For instance, most of the early entries were not edible if one followed veganism or had, say, a dairy allergy. I then created a “Best Vegan” category to encourage more inclusive dietary entries, and it worked! We now have an entire workflow in place to label and encourage entries that aren’t just vegan but are gluten free or nut free as well. Our entry form includes a section where bakers can include dietary information about their entries, giving us the opportunity to put edible books suitable for people with ethical or dietary sensitivities together to lessen the risk of cross contamination.

The number of edible books at the festival has risen from fifteen to fifty over the years! Since we only award twelve prizes, we do our absolute best to celebrate each baker! The first fifteen minutes of the festival are essentially gallery time, in which attendees walk around and enjoy the beauty, skill, and even humor of the edible books. During this viewing time, we have a professional photographer on hand to take portraits of each edible book, as well as photos of the desserts being completely decimated by hungry bibliophiles! Our bakers can then download the photos and share them on social media. We also make special souvenirs for all of the bakers. My student employees create handmade artistic placards for each entry, and they take instant photos of each entry as it arrives. Not only are the instant photos a nice memento, but they also serve as a record of what the edible book looked like before it was consumed by hordes of sugar-crazed Hopkinsians.

Our promotion has also significantly changed. We now rely on social media, especially the reels feature on Instagram to build interest in the event. My student employees and I came up with goofy concepts to show off prizes, remind our community about the event, and encourage them to participate. Some of my favorites for this year are a Buzzfeed quiz we created called “Are You a Taster or a Baker?” and a mock Ted Talk on just what is an edible book.

What is something surprising that you've discovered or experienced related to your work on the Edible Book Festival?

Probably not too surprising, but the edible book festival is a cool way to learn about book and baking trends! For instance, during our first few years, titles in the Harry Potter series were a big deal, with numerous edible books featuring scenes and characters. While we still get the odd Harry Potter entry, bakers today are more into the Hunger Games if they are inspired by popular YA books. There are also certain “evergreen” titles, especially classic children’s books like The Secret Garden, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Lorax, and The Very, Very Hungry Caterpillar that are frequently entered each year. While uncommon titles like “The Ashley Book of Knots” have inspired fun edible books, it does seem that bakers seek more well-known titles that will be recognized by a general audience.

As for baking trends, there has certainly been a rise in cream puffs, including cream puff representations of Marie Antoniette and even Dante’s purgatory! I personally found it super fascinating that this year’s edible book competition featured three different cakes all meant to resemble human heads. And they weren’t creepy in the least! There also is some serious beef in the competitive world of edible books between fondant molders and frosting artisans!

What would you say to a library staff member at any library who is interested in kick-starting an Edible Book Festival in their community?

I clearly love all things edible books and certainly encourage librarians to give it a shot! It is truly a wonderful way to build community and break barriers between library staff and the people they support.  Don’t be bummed out at all if it isn’t initially as successful as you’d hope it would be. It may take two or three years to come up with your library’s edible book identity (ours is centered on two simple concepts to help explain the idea: “eat books” and “read it and eat it”) and for it to have word-of-mouth appeal. However, it is a huge time commitment, and you need support from your dean or director to proceed, especially if there are any concerns regarding insurance and food safety. If any of you are having a hard time finding support for your event, get in touch with me! I would love to brainstorm with you and help spread the joy of eating books from sea to shining sea!

Explore photos of the 2025 festival entries.
Check out all things edible books at the Sheridan Libraries’ website.