Who are we?
We are a group of people dedicated to creating a library-based sharing economy in New York City, through bottom-up, directly democratic organizing at the neighborhood level. We plan to work within two coordinated systems: a Distributed Library of physical items, and cooperative service through Neighbor Labor. In the short term, we wish to foster a sense of community and mutual aid within our network, and inspire other neighborhoods to self-organize alongside us. In the long term, we hope to provide our neighbors and ourselves with an alternative, collective way to meet our needs, without relying on the state and corporations.
How does this work?
The Distributed Library is a way to network common tools and other items, so they can be collectively owned and shared by our community. In our hyper-policed and commodified city, a physical library space would be impossible for ordinary people to maintain. So instead, the concept of our “library” will extend, through virtual technology, to anywhere our items happen to be. To organize this network, we’re currently developing software to allow members to interface with the library as a whole, request items, and coordinate exchanges. We invite you to join us, and discover Library Economics for yourself!