Very excited to announce that The Library Was, our first publication with Book Works, is now available for pre-order from our online shop 😬 very limited edition, hand crafted elements and superior quality paper.http://oomkzine.bigcartel.com/product/the-library-was

The official launch is next Thursday at London Centre for Book Arts from 6.30, ƒree refreshment + more, full details here- https://www.facebook.com/events/1619661415026266/

We’ll also be selling copies at the Tate during Offprint London 2016
on Sunday 22nd May and also at DIY Cultures on Sunday 29th May.

About

“The Library Was is the first printed matter of our era. The restored materials within this publication are a glimpse into Library history spanning sporadically from the dawn of the library to the present.”

The Library Was is a publication by OOMK’s Heiba Lamara, Sofia Niazi and Rose Nordin, supported and published by Book Works.

Born out of OOMK’s Future Library residency at Open School East supported by Arts Council England, The Library Was reimagines the possible function, aesthetic and user culture of the library in an age when their continued existence is no longer guaranteed. The Library Was offers a playful glimpse into Library history and its parallel present-future. 

The publication features a profile of the revolutionary Cuban librarian Marta Terry González, an account of the stolen library of the late Saudi novelist Abd al-Rahman Munif, and a re-assessment of The Five Laws of Library Science, 1931, as they apply to contemporary zine-collecting. Found and ‘recovered’ texts interweave The Library Was, ranging in their examination from race as technology to the Dendrology of the Book or Library as Estranged Family.
With contributions from Leila Kassir, Fehras Publishing Practices, Hudda Khaireh, and Rianna Jade Parker.

Individually constructed and layered, each copy of the Library Was has been handcrafted from carefully selected papers.