FREE BOOKS. On the Infrastructural Promise of Street Libraries

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.