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How do you use your local library? Does it arrive at your door on the back of an elephant? Can it float down the river to you? Or does it occupy a phone booth by the side of the road?



Public libraries are a cornerstone of modern civilization, yet like the books in them, libraries face an uncertain future in an increasingly digital world. Undaunted, librarians around the globe are thinking up astonishing ways of reaching those in reading need, whether by bike in Chicago, boat in Laos, or donkey in Colombia. Improbable Libraries showcases a wide range of unforgettable, never-before-seen images and interviews with librarians who are overcoming geographic, economic, and political difficulties to bring the written word to an eager audience. Alex Johnson charts the changing face of library architecture, as temporary pop-ups rub shoulders with monumental brick-and-mortar structures, and many libraries expand their mission to function as true community centers. To take just one example: the open-air Garden Library in Tel Aviv, located in a park near the city's main bus station, supports asylum seekers and migrant workers with a stock of 3,500 volumes in sixteen different languages.



Beautifully illustrated with two hundred and fifty color photographs, Improbable Libraries offers a breathtaking tour of the places that bring us together and provide education, entertainment, culture, and so much more. From the rise of the egalitarian Little Free Library movement to the growth in luxury hotel libraries, the communal book revolution means you'll never be far from the perfect next read.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Introduction
• 1 Libraries on the Move
• 2 Animal Libraries
• 3 Tiny Libraries
• 4 Big Libraries
• 5 Home Libraries
• 6 Mobile Libraries
• 7 Not Libraries
• Select Bibliography
• Acknowledgments
• Author Biography

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The colorful photos-sometimes several per spread-are the attraction in this small, square, browsable tome, which showcases innovative, quirky, and fun ways librarians and others have come up with to display books that are for loan or giveaway. Chapters open with an overview and cover libraries on the move (e.g., those in cabs, train stations, airports, and in tourist destinations such as resorts); animal (e.g., Depression-era Kentucky's Pack Horse Library Project, today's Mongolian Children's Mobile Library, which travels on camel); tiny (the take-a-book-leave-a-book Little Free Libraries, for example, and other such inventions in former phone boxes and unlikely containers); big (architectural, large-scale projects in different countries); home (you will weep with envy); and mobile libraries (e.g., -Seattle Public Library's Books on Bikes and Sao Paulo, Brazil's Bicicloteca, a library on a bike that also offers solar-powered Internet access and is operated by a librarian who was once homeless); and "Not Libraries"-libraries in bars or department stores. It's sometimes unclear why a library is featured in one category rather than another, but it matters little. VERDICT This delightful book will give bibliophiles everywhere ideas for how to exhibit their collection as well as add some destinations to their bucket list. A great option for the children's room, too.-Henrietta Verma, Library Journal © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Alex Johnson is a journalist at the UK's Independent newspaper and editorial consultant for several charities. He lives with his wife and three children in St Albans, UK. Both of his parents are librarians.