I just walked back from the lovely Cookie Bar in Ford City, Ontario, where I was one of the six “fun” speakers at the Bike Windsor Essex AGM.

The theme was transportation and the format was pecha kucha: 20 slides that auto forward every 20 seconds.

This is what I was supposed to have said.

Hello! My name is Mita Williams. I am the Law Librarian of the Don & Gail Rodzik Law Library of the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor.

My talk is called, The Bureau of Library Tourism.

The Bureau of Library Tourism does not exist. It was a failed proposal of mine that I had made to the American Library Association in 2018.

My proposal was to help libraries give tourists things to do when they visit.

In 2018, I had noticed that Library Tourism was really “a thing”. Non-librarians were visiting libraries while on vacation.

And as artist Austin Kleon says, even if you don’t plan a trip around them, libraries are excellent spots for weary travelers.

And even today and especially today – libraries remain a place of refuge and generosity.

You still can go to Library Planet – which was founded by two Danish librarians in 2018 – to plan your next vacation around libraries.

You might be interested in visiting libraries to appreciate and experience their architectural excellence. Here are some beautiful libraries all in downtown Toronto.

Of course, we don’t have to travel that far to experience our local libraries…

POP Quiz – how many branches does the Windsor Public Library have?
YOU HAVE LESS THAN 20 SECONDS

(no one shouted the correct answer… from what I could hear!)

Eleven!
And how many have you visited?

From Spacing Magazine, you can buy the Toronto Library Passport and collect a stamp from each of the 100 branch libraries of the Toronto Public Library.

Filling in your passport can be your reason to visit beyond downtown Toronto and discover 100 different neighbourhoods of the city.

The Brooklyn Public Library runs something similar called Browse the Branches, where if you collect all 62 stickers from all 62 branches, you can earn a tote bag.

By the way I believe the BPL doesn’t call it a library passport is that it already runs a passport service through two of its branches.

(Just imagine if we ran some of our government services through public libraries instead of stores like Staples or Shoppers Drug Mart!)

OK but why? Why am I telling you to go visit all the branches of the Windsor public library system by bike or by public transportation?

Well, I have a big reason and a weird reason why you should go visit and experience the local distinctiveness of your neighbour library branch.

The main reason is this it’s not enough to say that you love public libraries.

Libraries can’t show that they are used by their communities if you don’t use your community library.

To be in community means being in community spaces.

I have another reason why we should celebrate what makes your local library branch distinctive but it’s a bit more complicated.

It’s a bit of a thesis statement.

Library branches not only create important community spaces.

They can help reclaim and create new places from community.

What do I mean by creating a place? Well, consider what a non-place might look like.

This is an image that I like to call generica.

This picture is of an exit on the Pennsylvania turnpike… but it also could also be anywhere in much of the US and Canada.

Marc Augé describes places like gas stations and airports as non-places or liminal spaces. He calls them ’narrative deserts’ where nothing exciting is supposed to happen.

(The book cover is ironically of a very distinctive space not far from us).

We know that libraries are places where we can find stories to read,

I want to suggest that libraries can not only help us read stories of the past, they can help us write and tell our own stories of who we are, who we were and who we want to be.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

The Los Angeles Public Library has a program in which they fund the work of creators in residence to make works based on what they find in the library.

Last year, they had an experience designer named Andy Crocker who may be responsible for The Bureau of Nooks and Crannies.

The Bureau of Nooks and Crannies allows visitors to write their own stories, among other experiences. You can find her work in any of the 72 branches of the LA Public Library system.

I love this project. Here is an example of library tourism for both locals and for travelers. For those alone and for those perhaps with a grand parent or grand child in tow.

I have been collecting these sorts of new visitor experiences developed in and with libraries.

Here’s something slightly different from Arizona State University – this is an interactive space about experiencing the desert though print and sound.

The Dust and Shadow Study Room like an escape room filled with clues that allude to history, story and mystery, but you can leave anytime you like.

In conclusion, I no longer feel the need to create the Bureau of Library tourism because I think many libraries are already doing a fine job already being a refuge for locals and travelers alike.

That being said, if you would like to learn more, I did write this peer reviewed article in the Journal of Play in Adulthood about games designed to be played in and around libraries.

Thank you to Bike Windsor Essex for inviting me and thank you all for your kind attention. I hope you consider visiting your local branch library.