SIMON ELVINS

 

INDEX 

INFO


All the Libraries in London  

Index & Reader


 www.allthelibraries.com
www.itsnicethat.com
www.inigo.com

All the Libraries in London is a unique index of every library in the capital (795 and counting), but with 130 of these having closed over the last ten years, severe cuts and closures are taking a huge toll. The project aims to celebrate the capitals’ libraries by indexing and cataloguing every library in London, and inviting creative responses from from designers, artists, poets, librarians and writers.

At the heart of the project are two books, an Index and a Reader. The Index book catalogues every library in London, one per page per library and so 800 pages in total. The Reader offers a more personal narrative with a collection of creative responses from a range of artists, writers, designers and library lovers, including typographer Alan Kitching, design critic Alice Rawsthorn, artist Alison Turnbull amongst many others. Both are available as hand-marbled and foiled limited editions.

The website acts as an open-source online image archive, collating the list of every library and documenting them with photography that is freely available to share on Creative Commons. Accompanying the website is Google map of every library that aims to be a practical tool to help find your local library, but also highlighting those that have recently closed.