Opening the Book Blog

Big Art

Public art is often commissioned for public libraries. Large library buildings offer the urban space to make a big statement at the entrance or in the foyer. The art has to live up to the expectations of the city - they are very prestigious and very visible.

Pushing the book cart

Library book trolleys - book carts in the US - come in a variety of styles but the majority do one thing but nothing much else. Great for moving a load of books from A to B - they are large, cumbersome and inflexible when not in use.

Book art and libraries

Libraries are the place where ideas begin. Many of the best ideas, artistic leaps, inventions and breakthroughs have been inspired by the contents of public libraries and yet, like many of the vital contributions that the library makes to the wider community...

Eau de library. What is the smell of your library?

Perfumery is a complex and arcane art and never more so now that science is able to manufacture synthetic scents. You can smell of everything nowadays from an entire hog roast to a gently perspiring unicorn.

Grown up pop ups

Pop Up books were first published for adults. The first evidence of a movable book was in1306 when Catalan writer Ramon Lull used a revolving disk to demonstrate his technique. Books on anatomy used folding flaps, landscape design books demonstrated ...

Finding a good read

Amazon’s customer reviews and suggestions are widely used and can be quite helpful if taken in balance. However, because of the way people often make book purchases, the adjacencies (people who bought this also bought….) don’t always reflect personal reading tastes.

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