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| Street Books | |
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| Location | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Type | Mobile library |
| Established | 2011 |
| Other information | |
| Website | streetbooks |
Street Books is a mobile library utilizing customized tricycles that serves homeless people in Portland, Oregon. [1] [2] [3] It also serves low-income residents of the community, [4] including those who are day laborers and immigrants. [5] It was founded in June 2011 by Laura Moulton, an artist, writer, and writing teacher from Portland. [1] [2] [6]
Conceived as a time-bound art project, Street Books was initially funded with a $4,963, three-month "social practice" grant from Portland's Regional Arts & Culture Council. [5] [6] [7] According to Moulton, the initial idea underlying the project was "that books and conversation about books, could be enriching and enlightening, and could transform time, especially for people living outside". [8] Its mission is twofold: to "empower people on the streets through access to literature" and to "create a community of support for people living outside, through a shared love of books". [4]
In 2011, Moulton began Street Books by taking 40–50 books to the Skidmore Fountain on Wednesdays and the South Park Blocks on Saturdays. [6] [7] [9] Other locations ultimately frequented by the mobile library include Bud Clark Commons, the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp, St. Francis Park, and the Willamette River waterfront. [2] [5] [10] By 2014, Street Books had become a registered nonprofit organization with a board of directors, hosted its first fundraising event, and counted three salaried "street librarians" (including Moulton) in addition to regular volunteers. [2] [5] According to Moulton, Street Books "wasn't a service that could be suspended because an art project had come to an end". [5] By June 2016, it employed six paid librarians and utilized two tricycles. [11] Additional sources of funding for the mobile library have included a 2011 Kickstarter campaign, a $1,000 grant from the Awesome Foundation in 2014, and a grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust. [2] [12]
Street Books uses library cards and traditional library pockets to keep track of its books, although it does not set or enforce due dates; patrons simply return the books at their leisure. [6] [13] According to Moulton, "people living outside might have bigger things to worry about than returning their books to the street library". [9] Nevertheless, patrons do regularly return the books they check out. [9] Additionally, patrons do not need to provide any form of identification or an address to loan books; all that is required to obtain a Street Books library card is to give one's name. [4] [7] [13] In contrast, patrons of Portland's Multnomah County Library need to provide an address in order to acquire a library card. [7] [14]
Street Books serves the community from June to October of each year. [12] By 2016, it had served more than 5,000 patrons. [15] Moulton also invites patrons to be photographed with the books they check out, and then posts these images on a blog that documents the mobile library since its foundation. [6] [13]
Street Books curates and provides access to a diverse collection of books that span a wide range of genres. In August 2011, Moulton noted that Western fiction and the works of countercultural authors like Jack Kerouac and Ken Kesey were especially popular. [6] In July 2016, fellow street librarian Diana Rempe observed that escapist and spiritual literature were also popular among patrons. [16] Another strength of the collection is its coverage of regional authors, including Jim Lynch, Benjamin Parzybok, and Kevin Sampsell. [9] The collection, which Moulton organizes during the winter, consists largely of paperback books donated by community members. [10] [12] [16] Street Books will occasionally buy used books that are specifically requested by patrons, often from Powell's Books. [11] [12]
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