The People's Library, also known as Fort Patti or the Occupy Wall Street Library (OWS Library), was a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

founded in September 2011 by

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

protesters in lower Manhattan's

Zuccotti Park Zuccotti Park (formerly Liberty Plaza Park) is a publicly accessible park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is located in a privately owned public space (POPS) controlled by Brookfield Properties and Goldman Sachs. ...

located in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was temporarily evicted when Zuccotti Park was cleared on November 15, 2011, during which time 5,554 books were thrown away by the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

. In April 2013, the

Government of New York City The government of New York City, headquartered at New York City Hall in Lower Manhattan, is organized under the New York City Charter and provides for a mayor-council system. The mayor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for the ...

was ordered to pay $366,700 for the raid, which was found to have violated the protesters'

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

History

Day 9 Occupy Wall Street September 25 2011 Shankbone 34

Day_9_Occupy_Wall_Street_September_25_2011_Shankbone_40

Founded shortly after Occupy Wall Street activists began protesting, the People's Library began with a cardboard box full of books which was left at

by a

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

student from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. A weather event then resulted in the loss of the collection, which prompted

Betsy Fagin Betsy Fagin (born 1972) is an American poet. She is the author of ''All is Not Yet Lost'' ( Belladonna, 2015), ''Names Disguised'' (Make Now Books, 2014) as well as numerous chapbooks including ''Poverty Rush'' (Three Sad Tigers, 2011), ''the scien ...

to bring the idea of an official library before the movement's General Assembly a few weeks later. The assembly appointed Fagin as

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

and a second collection was started. As time passed, volunteers received additional books and resources from readers, private citizens, authors and corporations. In one such instance, musician

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album '' Horses''. Called the "punk poe ...

contributed a tent to the library, which was named ''Fort Patti'' in her honor and used as the library's primary structure until it was destroyed in November. On October 13, 2011, Brookfield Properties, which owns Zuccotti Park, the location of the OWS encampment, ordered a clearing of the park under the pretext of "cleaning". Working groups within OWS were divided over how to respond, however, a decision was made for people to stay, but for infrastructure and possessions to be moved to safety. Between one and two thousand books were moved overnight to a large artist warehouse in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.local homeless population, according to a librarian from the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

Collection

The library had 9,500 books cataloged in

LibraryThing LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers. Based in Portland, Maine, LibraryThing was developed by ...

as of November 2012, and its collection was described as including some rare or unique articles of historical interest that originated as a result of the Occupy protests. According to ''

American Libraries ''American Libraries'' is the flagship magazine of the American Library Association (ALA). About ''American Libraries'' was first published in 1970 as a continuation of the long-running ''ALA Bulletin,'' which had served as the Association’s ...

'', the library's collection had "thousands of circulating volumes," which included "holy books of every faith, books reflecting the entire political spectrum, and works for all ages on a huge range of topics." A librarian was quoted as saying that "donated books are never rejected, even if they seem at odds with the ideology behind the protest." The collection development policy of the Library, or lack thereof, is this: "It only has two points: everything we have was donated to us, and we accept everything," thus, "not only was the Library for the people, but, as they are responsible for its creation, that it is of the people." The Library Working Group of the OWS People's Library worked in a consensus leadership structure, meaning they need at least a 90% agreement among members to make a decision happen. However, the degreed librarians could make many autonomous actions if they did not detrimentally affect the library or its mission. Unique articles include the ''Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology'', which was compiled by the library based on its live poetry sessions and featured poets such as

Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "th ...

and

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activ ...

"alongside high school kids."

Zuccotti Park eviction

During the early morning of November 15, 2011,

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

workers from the

Police Department The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...

and Sanitation Department forcibly evicted everyone in the park at that time and loaded their

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...

and the 5,500+ book collection into garbage trucks, after a decision by city officials and park owners

Brookfield Office Properties Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of Commercial property, commercial real estate company Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of Alternative investment, alternative asset management company Brookfield Ass ...

using "

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

and

environmental issue Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on th ...

s" as justification. The People's Library facility was among the assets seized. Following the police action, observers reportedly saw the library's books being thrown into dumpsters. New York City mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

stated that the library's collection was safely stored at the sanitation garage on 57th Street, and that it could be retrieved on the following Wednesday. After library representatives returned from the sanitation garage on Wednesday, they posted on the library's website that most of its collection and equipment had been destroyed, damaged or lost. Among the missing or damaged property was the

tent A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using gu ...

that housed the library (including its necessary

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

s and

rubber stamp A rubber stamp is an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved or vulcanized onto a sheet of rubber. Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to rubber ...

s bearing

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members * Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel '' ...

used to identify library resources. In all, library representatives reported recovering 26

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

es of books from the city. A final total of books recovered that were still usable and actually originated with the library was 802, a small fraction of the number seized.

Reaction

The

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

(ALA) issued a statement that the dissolution of the library was "unacceptable" because libraries "serve as the cornerstone of our democracy and must be safeguarded." The ALA added that the "very existence of the People's Library demonstrates that libraries are an organic part of all communities" and that libraries "serve the needs of community members and preserve the record of community history." Of concern was the loss of some rare historical documents and records, which it said are endemic to the Occupy movement. Some of the library's reference materials and some of its regular books lost were autographed by their authors, either while visiting the library or through courier to express moral support. One such example included ''

What Work Is ''What Work Is'' is a collection of poetry by Philip Levine that explores subjects characteristic of his work, including physical labor, class identity, family relationships, and personal loss. Much of the book is shaped by concerns for blue coll ...

'', which was signed and donated in person by

United States Poet Laureate The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the official poet of the United States. During their term, the poet laureate seeks to raise the national cons ...

Philip Levine hours before its destruction when the park was cleared. The executive director of

Common Cause Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President L ...

said in a statement that the

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

should "replace each title, buying two new copies for each one destroyed" and "for whatever number is unaccounted for, the city should provide Occupy's librarians with funds sufficient to buy twice as many."

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two ** '' University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme * Universal Century, one of the ti ...

history professor

Mark LeVine Mark Andrew LeVine is an American historian, musician, writer, and professor. He is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. Education LeVine received his B.A. in comparative religion and biblical studies from Hunter ...

expressed his sentiment that "tents can be replaced, even most personal effects. But destroying books is like destroying the soul of the movement" and filmmaker

Udi Aloni Udi Aloni ( he, אודי אלוני; born December 10, 1959) is an Israeli American filmmaker, writer, visual artist and political activist whose works focus on the interrelationships between art, theory, and action. Biography Udi Aloni is the ...

added that "When they disrespect books, they disrespect humankind, and when they destroy books, they destroy the spirit of humanity. The library was great because people gave more than they took. OWS was not just a place for activism, but also a place for education and rethinking; not for just blathering on when you don't know, but being humble and willing to learn. By taking out the library, they've tried to stop that crucial process." Editors at ''

2600: The Hacker Quarterly ''2600: The Hacker Quarterly'' is an American seasonal publication of technical information and articles, many of which are written and submitted by the readership, on a variety of subjects including hacking, telephone switching systems, Intern ...

'' mourned the loss of the library's donated electronics and computer equipment, which they believed to have been destroyed by a blunt object.

Restoration

Efforts to restore the library were initiated shortly after its seizure. The library started a third collection with 100 replacement books, which were subsequently surrounded by police and confiscated by sanitation workers on the night of November 16, 2011. A fourth collection was formed on November 17, 2011, and was distributed from mobile carts.

Services

The library used an

honor system An honor system or honesty system is a philosophical way of running a variety of endeavors based on trust, honor, and honesty. Something that operates under the rule of the "honor system" is usually something that does not have strictly enfo ...

to manage returns and originally operated

24/7 In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at any time and usually, every day. An alternate orthography for the numerical part includes 24×7 (usually pronounced "twenty ...

. It offered weekly poetry readings on Friday nights, provided a reference service that was frequently staffed by professional librarians, and could attempt to procure materials not held by the People's Library. The library's cataloging system is accessible online at

, which donated a free lifetime membership. Prior to the Zuccotti park raid, a lighted reading room, public laptop computers and a

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

were also offered.

Court case

On May 24, 2012, the librarians, represented by

Norman Siegel Norman Siegel is the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), New York City, New York's leading civil rights organization, under the umbrella of the nationwide American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as well as a ...

, sued the city, mayor

, police commissioner

Raymond Kelly Raymond Walter Kelly (born September 4, 1941) is the longest serving Commissioner in the history of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the first man to hold the post for two non-consecutive tenures. According to its website, Kelly � ...

, and sanitation commissioner John Doherty in federal court. On April 9, 2013, a New York city court ordered the city to pay $366,700 for the raid in which police destroyed some 5,000 books that were part of the library.

Sister libraries

Since the formation of the library, activists at related protests throughout North America and in Europe have formed several sister libraries.

References

External links

Official website

Library catalog

OWSLibrary Poetry Anthology