Taxonomy
2010, Steel, color changing LED’s, fiberglass
Robbie Waters Pocket Greenhaven Library, Sacramento, CA

“Taxonomy” is an illuminated portrait of the collection of the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven library. I am interested in how a library’s collection tells a story about the neighborhood.  I interviewed librarians and collections managers throughout Sacramento and found that each neighborhood is extensively profiled for demographics, education, interests, and resources are purchased in response to this research.  The resulting collection is a portrait of the community.

At the library, plant metaphors abound.  The designation “branch library” already poetically links the library with the idea of a larger botanical structure.  I found out the collection is cultivated like a garden: it is seeded with “opening day” acquisitions, and then it grows and is pruned based on patrons’ interest in the holdings.  Although the artwork is a snapshot of the opening day holdings, over time the collection inside will continue to change as books are requested and replaced, like a “brain” of the neighborhood, “learning” new information and “forgetting” unused knowledge.

Thank you to Adam Brown and the amazing people at AFX