Booknote: The Artist's Library

Laura C. Damon-Moore and Erinn Batykefer, The Artist's Library: a Field Guide. Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-1-56689-353-4.

This is basically a book for artists of all kinds to find creative ways to use the library. It also gives ideas and suggestions for libraries to encourage artists and to help nurture arts in their communities.

The book is organized into seven chapters. The first four chapters are for the artist. Each chapter gives a case study of an artist that used the library in some way, then provides some exercises or prompts to try out. The last three chapters are for libraries and provide ideas and information on how to serve artists and help promote the local arts in the library and the community. These latter chapters also provide case studies and a set of exercises.

This is pretty much a workbook. It is not exactly pleasure reading. Best way to use this book is to consult it for ideas and try out what may work for you. Some ideas may work better than others. The authors do include some photos and artifacts that add a bit of visual appeal and break up the text a bit.

Overall, I liked the book, but I did not really like it. It's basically a working book with ideas for art and creativity. Some connections to libraries and art were strong, but one or two seemed to be grasping at straws. In the end, it promotes use of libraries and art, and those are always good things.

I am giving it 3 out of 5 stars. 

Borrowed from my local public library, Madison County Public Library (Berea branch).