Beacon Public Library

Expanding Radical Civic Care for an Uncertain Future (2021)

Beacon Public Library (BPL) is part-speculation, part-systems design proposal for asserting and expanding the role of the public library as a civic space for radical care and community resilience in the face of climate change. This work explores the ways in which the public library could adapt to the needs of its changing environment and community.

Interventions are visualized by a librarian’s jumpsuit and library apron, an adapted library book cart, public signage, and a library card. The artifacts of these interventions make librarians visible and accessible, establishing their role as essential in providing expanded community services. They make BPL public-facing, critical, and adaptable, for climate crisis and non-crisis scenarios.

*Rhode Island School of Design Graduate Thesis, Master of Industrial Design

MID Thesis Award Recipient