If you're a librarian or have ever heard the term "weeding," it can pull at your heartstrings, and depending on your personality type – either in a good way or a bad one. If you're new here, weeding is the process of removing library materials that don't circulate, are in poor condition, or no longer serve the collection for a variety of reasons. But what happens when it’s too hard to let go, but something has got to give? Well, folks, we (Cheri Marks, Special Collections Librarian, and Kelly Lindberg, Research and Instruction Librarian) found ourselves in this exact position at Ringling College of Art + Design with some very cool (do we dare say dated?) materials that, instead of parting with, we’re looking at them through a new lens, and one that's full of potential.
Here’s the gist, y’all: We want to create an artist book from materials that are inevitably bound to be deaccessioned – not because they are damaged or unusable, but because their circulation numbers are nonexistent. We’re talking zero. Zip. Nada. We have fifty unbound lithograph prints that were donated to our library with unknown origins, and the portraits can easily be viewed online or purchased as their monetary value is low. So what's a small private art and design college going to do with these?
As librarians that specifically work in Sarasota, Florida, we wanted this idea to be impactful. Our regional area has unfortunately been a hotspot for anti-LGBTQ+ ideas and acts. Rainbow crosswalks and sidewalks filled with public art were enthusiastically erased in the area. Kelly previously worked at the Jane Bancroft Cook Library at New College of Florida, where, during her time there, administration very dramatically tore down “all-gender” bathroom signs. (Luckily, the DeSantis appointed board of trustee members never noticed the books on Critical Race Theory displayed on the new book shelves.) The local public library system has seemed to pause any pride month celebrations or displays that previously existed before current political officers took office. As a private institution, we’re lucky to have had a bit of a bubble around our campus in which we can still promote diversity, equity, and inclusion – however, our Center for Diversity and Inclusion was in fact renamed to be the Center for Student Success so as to not displease potential donors. These local events prompted us to think more intentionally about visibility, representation, and whose stories are welcomed in public spaces. We wanted to create something for patrons to be excited about and have fun with – a book of old, unused prints of some known and some unknown white men into something “glamorous, hilarious, and rebellious” (Hall). Drag is often seen as radical and disruptive, something we felt putting out into our community where so much has been taken away. We also wanted to lighten the mood, as “not only does drag set out to subvert society’s norms, it delights at poking fun at the world around us” (Hall).
An inspiring book, The Art of Drag by Jake Hall.
Approaching the project
Now for the fun part. Those fifty prints are about to take on a whole new life. We’re looking for a large collaboration within our institution, inviting fifty folks to each transform one portrait print into drag. We hope to see a wide range of techniques and mediums, from some stitching, folding, cutting, layering, and all the other cool stuff us creatives like to work with. Once all fifty prints have had their makeover, they’ll come back together to be bound into an accordion artist book. As we work through mockups, we’ll be thinking about giving these prints a second chance to be seen and interacted with, in an entirely new way. Rather than viewing deaccessioned materials as waste, we began wondering whether they could continue serving the library in another form – not as circulating objects, but as catalysts for artistic collaboration and dialogue.Once this project is complete, it will permanently live in Special Collections and be ready to be discovered by our patrons.
In conclusion
The prints have become institutionally invisible through nonuse. Drag historically makes marginalized identities visible. Drag is an art form, a performance practice, and a cultural tradition. Drag is one of the richest artistic traditions centered on transformation, performance, reinvention, and making the unseen visible. We wanted to reclaim the old and make something new, and this artist book makes both visible again.
As we continue to move through the mockup phases and figure out the details of this project, we’re hoping that this blog sparks some interest and opens up a dialogue around what it means to reimagine materials that might otherwise be overlooked. We’d love to hear from other folks in the community -- librarians, archivists, bookmakers, artists, and anyone else who has found themselves asking, “What do we do with the things that no longer fit?”
Because let’s be honest, letting go of materials can be complicated, whether that’s small scraps of paper trimmings from a recent artist book project (yes, I’m looking at you, at me, at all of us!), to archivists sifting through their collections. There’s history, there’s emotion, and sometimes there’s just too much creative potential sitting there waiting to be explored. We’re excited to share this project, hear different perspectives, and see how others approach creating something new from something old.
Some examples that have already been created by Ringling folks.
Work Cited
Jake Hall, The Art of Drag, artwork by Sofie Birkin, Helen Li, Jasjyot Singh Hans & more (Nobrow Press, 2020).
Cheri Marks serves as the Special Collections Librarian & Archivist, and letterpress instructor at Ringling College of Art + Design. She makes artist books and prints under the imprint, Blue Section Press. You can find her work @bluesection.press (Instagram) and Ringling College of Art + Design Special Collections @rcad_specialcollections (Instagram).
Kelly Lindberg is an Instructional Design Librarian at Ringling College of Art + Design’s Alfred R. Goldstein Library, with a longstanding interest in zines and comics. She actively incorporates these passions into her teaching of information literacy to students. You can find her at @comic.kelly (Instagram) and view her posts on @alfredrgoldsteinlibrary (Instagram).
