How to Serve the Ministry of Reshelving
1. Select a local bookstore to carry out your reshelving activities.
2. Download and print "This book has been relocated by the Ministry of Reshelving" bookmarks and "All copies of 1984 have been relocated" notecards to take with you to the bookstore. Or make your own. We recommend bringing a notecard and 5-10 bookmarks to each store.
3. Go to the bookstore and locate its copies of George Orwell's 1984. Unless the Ministry of Reshelving has already visited this bookstore, it is probably currently incorrectly classified as "Fiction" or "Literature."
4. Discreetly move all copies of 1984 to a more suitable section, such as "Current Events", "Politics", "History", "True Crime", or "New Non-Fiction."
5. Insert a Ministry of Reshelving bookmark into each copy of any book you have moved. Leave a notecard in the empty space the books once occupied.
6. If you spot other incorrectly classified books, feel free to relocate them.
7. Please report all reshelving efforts to the Ministry. Email your store name, location, # of 1984 copies reshelved, and any other reshelving activities conducted, to reshelving @ avantgame.com. Photos of your mission can be uploaded to Flickr, tagged as "reshelving", and submitted to the Ministry of Reshelving group.
Comments (10)
Ok, this is clearly fantastic. I think Brave New World could be moved at the same time.
Posted by Ian Wojtowicz | August 16, 2005 9:19 PM
Posted on August 16, 2005 21:19
can i just say on behalf of librarians everywhere: thanks, a lot. i just hope this is limited to bookstores and not done in libraries.
Posted by Christina Pikas | August 17, 2005 7:11 AM
Posted on August 17, 2005 07:11
Brilliant. Just brilliant.
Posted by Ken | August 17, 2005 10:46 AM
Posted on August 17, 2005 10:46
That's hysterical. And sadly true.
Posted by Donna | August 17, 2005 6:29 PM
Posted on August 17, 2005 18:29
The markers are a fantastic idea. A few years ago there was a book published called "A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion", where these 2 male academics made the most offensive arguments about how it's a "natural" phenomenon, blah blah blah, and it was just the most incredible piece of garbage and it enraged me to see it. So whenever I'd see it in a bookstore, always shelved under "science" or "biology," I would relocate it to some other section, usually "Occult" or "True Crime" or "Fiction." But I never used a marker of any kind to indicate that the move was *intentional* and its new location was *deliberate*. I'll definitely print some of those out.
Posted by Stacey | August 18, 2005 8:48 AM
Posted on August 18, 2005 08:48
Brilliant.
Posted by Heidi | August 20, 2005 9:20 AM
Posted on August 20, 2005 09:20
Unfortunately, it's reversible, and has more or less already been going on in the other direction. For years I've found total crap that's been intentionally shelved in the "science and nature" section, especially in national chains -- life-after-death stuff, UFOs, crystal power.
I hesitate to say it, but its a charming idea, but one that immediately makes me think of Rik Mayall's character Rick in The Young Ones....
Posted by Bill Tozier | August 23, 2005 6:18 AM
Posted on August 23, 2005 06:18
if every era and social condition has it's form of social activism, then maybe reshelving is the right social movement for the moment and place on the West Coast now.
But if situation is really such that '1984' can be reshelved under 'current events' than activists can do better than shuffle books around.
And then there's Flickr. Flickr makes this project exist mainly as a series of (self-promoting) to some extent photos available online. It's a perversion of activism if the desired event is the existence of a documentation of the event.
Social action with it's roots in dada, situationism, etc. was much more fun before flashmogs, moblobs, digital cameras (no, even better, phones with those inside) and flickr. why? because it was personal and discreet.
I know that avantgaming is about public not personal, but there's no public on Flickr, just viewers of photos.
Posted by poszoski | August 29, 2005 2:22 PM
Posted on August 29, 2005 14:22
aww, seriously, this happens to me ever so often that my posts seem to serve as pegs that peg up a barrel full of nice talk. no more conversation. as satisfying as a finishing touch can be - the last one in the marathon; the last one to finish a dinner; the last one to write an exam - it always leaves me with a feeling that I said something inappropriate that made everyone shut up. sorri.
Posted by poszoski | September 6, 2005 9:19 AM
Posted on September 6, 2005 09:19
nna, it was a nice leap in carrying on the thought, but not inappropriate.
wasn't it that for a long time an activism was a niche manifestation? reshelving project brings in my mind an activism described by Cortazar, called by him a contestation. do you remember those guys replacing single matches in the bulk containers with burnt ones? or standing up and screaming in the cinema just before the climax scene? but today a coincidence of niche activism and interest of media can turn the charming idea into the social movement. we never know when coincidence happens. but as long as the idea is worth of contestation, is worth of undertaking. why? as we can't anticipate the outcome of an experience and addressee or viewer's motivation to the reaction.
it's funny how simple bookmark and notecard appeal to people's acquiescence.
Posted by sno | December 26, 2005 8:56 AM
Posted on December 26, 2005 08:56