Winter 2026 Link Roundup

Interesting stories and finds from the library + creativity community.

I’ve seen circulating collections of art at libraries, but I really love that the Brooklyn Public Library’s recently launched Citywide First collection is composed entirely of original artworks. The collection itself is under the microscope here, posing questions about ownership, access, and what it means to have a personal relationship to art. Read the feature at ARTEFUSE.

If you have not encountered the Saint Heron Library, founded by Solange Knowles, I encourage you to explore the library’s catalog. Here you’ll discover rare, out-of-print books by and about Black and Brown artists, showcasing their creativity and scholarship. The library invites anyone who registers online to check out one title per borrower at a time, and will mail materials with complimentary return shipping.

I’d like to live inside the Story Shell at Barnsley Libraries in the UK. This giant inflatable pop-up space, designed by artists Steve Messam and Suzey Davey, can welcome up to twenty children at a time for performances, art workshops, and the like. The Story Shell appears at locations around the Barnsley metropolitan area and recently won an award for the innovative experiences it offers.

I love an unexpected discovery in a library or archive. For a horror film fan like me, this story has it all: a scholar stumbles upon original footage of The Cat Creeps, a 1930 horror film long thought lost, in the catalog at Indiana University Bloomington’s Moving Image Archive. Russell McGee, the adjunct professor who located the footage, is partnering with film historian Gary Rhodes to align the footage with the film’s soundtrack and dialogue, which Rhodes discovered in UCLA’s Film and Television Archive several years ago.

Winter is an excellent time to check out what your local library has to offer. Don’t forget any specialized libraries or archives nearby, too — museums, cultural centers, and performing arts spaces sometimes have special collections or archives that the public can visit and peruse!