Library Established at Occupy Boston
Metacomet Books, in collaboration with the Boston Radical Reference Collective and the Simmons Progressive Librarians Guild, has established a new, leaderless, collective library at the Occupy Boston encampment in Dewey Square. The yet-to-be-named library is open to the public 24 hours a day and will be serviced by librarians whenever possible.
The library aims to provide high-quality, accurate information to all interested parties. The collection contains material on topics such as political theory, social movements, activism, history, philosophy, religion, finance, consumerism, gender, and race, as well as a large fiction section.
The library has an open lending policy and visitors are encouraged to borrow materials and use them in and out of the library. Borrowers are also strongly encouraged to return books when they are finished with them so the information can be shared with other people.
Donations are welcome, particularly of works on political theory, social movements, activist handbooks, and other material relevant to the Occupy Boston movement.
Currently, the library needs daily newspapers, floorboards, extension cords, clamp-style and portable lights, and internet-ready laptops.
Click here for more information, or contact one of the following:
- Metacomet Books – sixteen20@gmail.com
- Simmons Progressive Librarians Guild – plg@simmons.edu
- Boston Radical Reference Collective – BostonRadRef@gmail.com
16 Responses to “Library Established at Occupy Boston”
This is one awesome idea. I hope other cities will do the same. This movement is a great opportunity to learn more about both how this system is broken and solutions to fix/replace it.
Very cool idea!
I have been wondering if there is any capacity to offer modest tutoring services at Occupy Boston. Something as simple as homework help for high schoolers, language/ESL tutoring, or GED workshops could be valuable for participants or the general public (especially young people).
There are lots of well-educated people on-site 24/7. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but this doesn’t seem like something you need to seek permission or consensus for. Just get a sign-board from the sign tent and something from Logistics to prop it on, and put a sign-up sheet in front of the Free School tent. I think it will be harder to find people seeking tutoring than to find people willing to tutor.
great idea either way 🙂
BOSTON “OCCUPY LIBRARY” IS VERY SMART , NECESSARY AND SPECIALLY USEFUL IN MANY WAYS. IT COULD BE THE MOST POWERFUL RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE WHOLE GLOBAL MOVEMENT AGAINST CAPITALISM AND THE PARASITIC , ARROGANT AND IMMORAL EXPLOITERS OF HUMAN LABOUR. THE IDEA SHOULD BE EMBRACED BY ALL THE MOVEMENTS , EVERYWHERE , WITH THE CAPABILITY AND RESOURCES TO DEVELOP AN INFORMATION , EDUCATION AND READING AND ENTERTAINMENT HOME , WHICH A PROGRESSIVE LIBRARY MUST BE. Anthony Hubert Codjoe
I find from speaking to people at Occupy Boston that politically active people hold onto a political viewpoint for the same reasons and in the same way one would hold onto a religious belief. Maybe we should put these new books in the spirituality tent?
May I suggest that the library be named after Buenaventura Durruti? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenaventura_Durruti
“We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing this minute.” – Buenaventura Durruti, Interview with Pierre van Paassen for the Toronto Daily Star (5 August 1936)
If not Durruti, perhaps Gustav Landauer? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Landauer
“One can throw away a chair and destroy a pane of glass; but those are idle talkers and credulous idolaters of words who regard the State as such a thing or as a fetish that one can smash in order to destroy it. The State is a condition, a certain relationship between human beings, a mode of behavior; we destroy it by contracting other relationships, by behaving differently toward one another. One day it will be realized that socialism is not the invention of anything new, but the discovery of something actually present, of something that has grown…. We are the State, and we shall continue to be the State until we have created the institutions that form a real community and society of men.” – Gustav Landauer, Der Sozialist, June, 1910
So, now, you think about building a library? Do we always need havoc for libraries to be created? What about every day? You people will never change.
can you explain this comment a little more? as best i know, this is just a few people and small organizations setting up a (very impressive! well-organized!) tent full of books, with a simple check-out system. the difficulties of doing this outside a tent city–cost of getting a building, the need to have a building staffed the whole time, permits to apply for, the need to be sustainable in an ongoing way–seem massive. i would assume that all the librarians working there are firmly in support of more libraries in the rest of the world, not just at occupy boston, but likely don’t have the resources (and in most cases governmental connections, since they are mostly municipal institutions) to create libraries everywhere else.
There are plenty of totally free libraries all over Boston with lots of friendly people working to provide information to any and all interested parties. I don’t understand what this gripe is about and who are “you people”?
Same location as the library tent that has already been there from the start?
I don’t have much cerebral stuff, but if you like action thrillers, science fiction/fantasy, and random novels, you can have the ones I’m done with.
The books previous located in the tan bi-colored tent have been moved and integrated into a larger blue tent near Media Tent (left of the staging where the General Assembly happens) it is a growing collection of books, periodicals and information. The tent itself is a larger, more water resistant. The location change was due to desire to be near a power-source for lighting and people carrying laptops
Is there a copy of ” what is to be done”? Does anyone know I would be happy to loan mine out.
on October 17th, 2011 at 10:38 am #
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on October 18th, 2011 at 2:00 pm #
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