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Piecing the People’s Library Back Together

After police raid, reports of missing and damaged books

by
Stephanie Butnick
November 16, 2011
(People's Library)
(People's Library)

The People’s Library—featuring works by Philip Roth, Alan Dershowitz, and Primo Levi, among many, many others—which was removed in its entirety from Zuccotti Park yesterday during the eviction of protestors, is slowly being pieced back together.

The books, which were taken to a Department of Sanitation facility on 57th St. along with other items from Zuccotti Park, were available for pickup today. An update on the library’s website announced: “Many books destroyed. Most equipment-and structures missing…most of library is missing (ALL of the reference section btw), damaged or destroyed.”

Meanwhile, Michelle Goldberg argues that the police crackdown will only stoke anger and revitalize the protestors. “The quixotic little village in Zuccotti Park may be gone,” she wrote. “The movement isn’t.”

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.