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Cornell Humanities Book Art Project

booksYou may have seen the story about the Cornell Humanities Book Art Project, “Cornell Community: Lend Buzz Spector Your Books,” in the Cornell Chronicle Online. The Library is playing a major role in this project, in which Professor Buzz Spector, Department of Art, will create a sculpture of a giant letter “C” composed entirely of books on arts and humanities subjects written by Cornellians. The sculpture will be exhibited first in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning’s New York City space at 50 W. 17th St., January 12-19, 2007, and then in the Hirshland Gallery of Kroch Library in March.

We ask Cornell authors to bring books for the project that can be in any broadly defined area of the arts or humanities to the circulation desk at any of the Cornell libraries by November 20, and we encourage all Library staff who have authored a work that fits the criteria to make a contribution to the project. Carla DeMello, Library Communications, designed the posters that have been distributed to each unit library and elsewhere soliciting the books. We will prepare the books for shipping to New York City, where Buzz Spector will construct the sculpture.

Sarah Thomas and Dean Mohsen Mostafavi, of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, will co-host the opening reception for the New York City exhibition on Thursday, January 11. At the close of the exhibition in New York, the books will be returned to Ithaca, and the sculpture will be reconstructed in the Hirshland Gallery. The Library will host an opening reception for the Ithaca exhibition. After this second exhibition, the Library will notify the authors that they may pick up their books.

For additional information about the book collecting and processing, contact Barbara Eden.