On October 6, 2011, as activists set up their tents and began building Occupy Portland, starting with a handful of books and zines on a cardboard desk in Chapman Square. By the night of the 7th, the library had a tent, books made their way onto shelves, workshops were held on the ground, and art supplies abounded. The library was a stone soup experiment sustained by volunteers and
donated material
s. Like the poor travelers of the old folk story, the librarians of the People’s Library attracted interest and curiosity with the meager setting for high ideals. Donations surged in, volunteers catalogued books with the Dewey Decimal System, and they were lent out on an honor system. Local librarians offered their time and skills, even making us a library stamp to prevent our books from being resold. As camp expanded, so did the library, claiming prime real estate on Lownsdale Square for a robust library tent with two workshop tents and art across the way. Requests were made for books on law, politics, economics, the environment, homesteading; science fiction overflow stabilized shelves. Zines and fliers found homes in the pockets of a door-sized shoe rack, and supplies were stored in a donated dresser. As the Occupation progressed, the meaning of the library expanded beyond a place to access information to an organization that facilitates learning. Braintrust meetings developed, calling attention to the educational needs of the movement and how to foster an environment that respects a diversity of learning needs. Workshops took a central role, and more than seventy presenters shared their knowledge about topics ranging from tax reform to pottery making to GMO's. During the last weeks of camp, we began preparing to bring workshops out into the community, assembling panel speakers, and thinking beyond the physical Occupation. At eviction time, volunteers moved our collection of 1,500 books to storage, a portion of which is available again to the community at the Che Room at St. Our School has focused primarily on providing education panels to schools and groups curious about Occupy since the eviction. As we near the first anniversary of Occupy Portland, The People’s Library is still simmering our stone soup. We invite you to join in on the cooking. We all have a little something we can add. The more we add, the better it is for everyone. Volunteers are currently working to collect the books in storage and to move them all to one location. A volunteer is using a portion of his home as a workspace for the library. This space is available for volunteers helping with the library work, but is not available to library guests. The public can access the People’s Library PDX in the Che Room at St. Francis - 1131 Southeast Oak Street.
