26 April 2006; Slightly Longer Pants.

Visits to the Library have been picking up this month, with a couple of people making appointments each week. I am continually amazed by what people see in the collection and how they imagine using it. One of the things that excites me about this project is the fact it always produces some bit of conversation that enlightens me. Its like this knowledge-producing machine and I get to reap some of its benefits. Its pretty cool.

Yesterday I arrived at home around 11:00 after a long day and found a 45 pound box of donated material from the Prelinger Library in San Francisco. Is it unusual to get excited about a box of old publications on somewhat esoteric topics (lumber drying techniques, strategies for protecting perishable foodstuffs during motortruck transport)? I'm not sure, but I do know that I was very excited to start looking through the gifts. Today, Kate and I spent a good portion of the early afternoon sifting through the books and pamphlets to decide what to add to the Library. I keep telling people that I know in San Fran to go check out the Prelinger Library. I don't know if they have or not, but I hope to take a trip out to the bay area in the upcoming year, and a visit to their Library is on the top of my list.

Oh yeah, I got new Library Skills pins and this time they are 1" instead of 1 1/4". I have black on green and black on silver. They look better smaller. Frankly, so do I.

5 April 2006; Short Pants.

It's been cooking lately at the Library. I've been meeting with Sasha Chavchavadze, the director of Proteus Gowanus to begin developing a show about libraries that will likely open some time this fall at PG. We have started identifying artists, librarians, collectives, and others whose work directly engage libraries in unusual or surprising ways. We sent out an initial round of emails and begun to get some positive results. If anyone has any recommendations about people who might make sense to be included in a show about libraries, please send me an email.

One exciting result of this collaboration is that beginning this fall the Reanimation Library will be housed at Proteus Gowanus. I am thrilled to be able to move the Library into a more accessible location that also happens to be a really great space. For those of you who haven't had a chance to check out PG, it's really worth the trip. It combines art gallery with reading room in a way that makes both somehow more appealing. Plus it's on the bank of the Gowanus Canal. I mean, that's just hard to beat.

Last Wednesday, I visited Jen Bervin's advanced poetry class at NYU. A few days earlier, Jen had selected and photocopied about 25 pages of text from the Library to create a packet for her students who will use it to complete an assignment about erasures. One of the things that I like about the Library is that people approach it from so many different directions. I am, of course, aware of the textual dimension of the books that I collect, but I'm so image-obsessed that I was somewhat confused when Jen was going through the Library. She asked me what would be a good book for poets, and I was stumped. But we did end up finding some good material and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what her students do with it. It was a total pleasure to meet them and talk with them.

Yesterday I visited Diane Neumaier's photography class at Rutgers and spoke to her grad students about the Library. In some ways this visit was the most challenging yet because her students were very sharp and they asked questions that really forced me to articulate what it is that I am trying to do. It made me wish that I had classes like that in library school instead of the overpriced and stultifying crap that passes for library education. But I digress. The opportunity to speak with Diane and her students was another energizing experience in that I'm happy to have had.

And finally, I should mention that Rachel and I visited the Martha Rosler Library last weekend and it was pretty great. The MRL is a portion of Martha Rosler's personal collection of books that e-flux has made publicly available for a temporary period of time. The Library closes on April 15, so if you haven't seen it, check it out soon. Its open from Tuesday through Saturday, 12-6 PM and its located at 53 Ludlow, at Grand Street.