Where was this idea?

When we had all those leftover books at the end of booksales? We could have made dozens of these rugs *grin*! And, yes, it is a rug made out of book spines - not sure what it would feel like to walk on it though...

 The artist who created it, Pamela Paulsrud, does a lot of things with altered books and "found words".

On the Apartment Therapy website where I first spotted this, the blogger notes: "Most of us love books greatly and don't like to see them damaged. It's easy to believe that they should all be in libraries for an eternity or shipped to places where folks could use them" and commenters also express dismay over what they perceive as the waste of a book.

Folks, as anyone who works with books in large quantities will tell you: books can definitely outlive their useful lives! That computer guide from the 80's? The zillionth copy of the now forgotten bestselling diet guide from 10 years ago? Twenty year old college textbooks? It's okay to consign them to the recycle bin, and if you can find a way to reuse even a small portion of the book before you do so, go for it!

As all good Friends of the Library know, there will always be more books to take their place...