📚 OUT NOW: B.001: FREE BOOKS – On the Infrastructural Promise of Street Libraries 📚

Order a copy via our webshop 🛒 (https://papertrail.world/freebooks/) or arrange a local pickup in The Hague via DM.

Street libraries, also known as minibiebs, are appearing increasingly on squares, street corners, and along house facades in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. While they may be regarded by some as isolated neighbourhood facilities that activate dumping old books, a closer look at their architectural and infrastructural qualities reveals their potential to inspire radically different informational futures.

In “FREE BOOKS: On the Infrastructural Promise of Street Libraries”, graphic designer Apsara Flury and researcher Livio Liechti unpack the contemporary street library landscape, along with its historical and cultural significance, by surveying more than 200 instances of the infrastructural phenomenon.

Featuring architectural illustrations, scanned images from books found in street libraries, written essays, and photographs, the book explores alternatives to our progressively dysfunctional digital platforms and invites readers to perceive the city anew as they drift through it.

#newbook #selfpublishing #minibieb #freelittlelibrary #infrastructure

Taking FREE BOOKS on some house visits 🏠🐈‍⬛👋

When we started collecting and investigating the minibieb landscape, we quickly came to realise that one design is particularly popular. More often than not, their exterior form resembles the idiosyncratic shape of a child’s drawing of a detached house. As we expanded our research, we increasingly encountered other common architectures and shared characteristics, which inspired the definition of a typology of 12 distinct minibieb categories that structure the book. But the house shape remains by far the most popular one, especially in the Netherlands.

#minibieb #streetlibrary #freelittlelibrary #book #publishing #selfpublishing

Isn’t this the coolest Free Little Library you’ve seen? This is over off Ward Parkway and is a miniature Union Station. Someone put so much attention to detail into this! It’s a bit in disrepair now but still cool and loaded up with books. I just dropped off about 10 myself! ❤️ 📚 #bookstodon #FreeLittleLibrary

Our #freelittlelibrary is basically maintained by our reading community near us. The only thing I do is take the odd book out that doesn’t go (self help and worn pocket books) and keep it clean and tidy. Oddly, few people return books but there is a good supply of new books.

not the best photos but did a quick #minibieb / #freelittlelibrary run today. Also some thrifting so kids have a lot to choose from now

Minibieb in de Jan Willem Frisostraat in Rotterdam #MinibiebMaandag #FreeLittleLibrary

@MartaLatour @BookCrossing 👍 hier gibts tipps zum bauen: https://littlefreelibrary.org/start/build-a-little-free-library/ #freelittlelibrary

Send us your photographs by email (post [at] papertrail.world). Include some information about the location and how you relate to it. We accept submissions from anywhere in the world!

Your submissions will feed into our ongoing research into the aesthetic and functional aspects of contemporary street library culture in the Netherlands and beyond. This research will serve as the basis for a forthcoming print publication.

Street libraries, or Minibiebs, as they are dubbed in Dutch, are a fascinating and often under-appreciated piece of urban technology. While some of them are built by schools, cultural institutions or even train station architects, the vast majority of Minibiebs are installed and maintained by individual volunteers.

Ranging from repurposed plastic crates or old pieces of furniture to elaborate, purpose built constructions, most Minibiebs are placed on public land. Owing to relatively generous spatial regulations, which tend to allow homeowners and tenants in most Dutch municipalities to make use of the space in front of their house, as long as it does not interfere with foot traffic, the hurdles for placing your own Minibieb are quite low.

#minibieb #streetlibrary #freelittlelibrary #photography #opencall #callforsubmissions

Send us your photographs by email (post [at] papertrail.world). Include some information about the location and how you relate to it. We accept submissions from anywhere in the world!

Your submissions will feed into our ongoing research into the aesthetic and functional aspects of contemporary street library culture in the Netherlands and beyond. This research will serve as the basis for a forthcoming print publication.

Street libraries, or Minibiebs, as they are dubbed in Dutch, are a fascinating and often under-appreciated piece of urban technology. While some of them are built by schools, cultural institutions or even train station architects, the vast majority of Minibiebs are installed and maintained by individual volunteers.

Ranging from repurposed plastic crates or old pieces of furniture to elaborate, purpose built constructions, most Minibiebs are placed on public land. Owing to relatively generous spatial regulations, which tend to allow homeowners and tenants in most Dutch municipalities to make use of the space in front of their house, as long as it does not interfere with foot traffic, the hurdles for placing your own Minibieb are quite low.

#minibieb #streetlibrary #freelittlelibrary #opencall #callforsubmissions #books #photography