The BAMRA Bookshelf – Turning Pages, Building Community

By Corinne Neary

From November 1–15, the BAMRA Bookshelf invites Villagers to shop locally, meet their neighbors and earn free books about New York City culture. Neighborhood resident Jack Killcoyne shares how a lifelong love of books inspired a nine-business stamp rally designed to bring the Village closer together.

I was working at our second floor circulation desk recently, when we had a visitor with a childhood connection to our library, and to Frank Collerius, our library manager. A young man, whom I learned was Jack Killcoyne, asked me if there was anyone working here named Frank, and it just so happened that the man himself was standing right next to me. Jack wasn’t sure if Frank would remember him, but he told us a story from when he was five years old. He had burst into tears in our children’s room because he had lost his library card and had learned that he would have to replace it with one with a new design. Frank had saved the day by finding a library card with the design Jack was used to.

As it turned out, Frank remembered five-year-old Jack very well, had thought about that day many times, and even remembered Jack’s mother’s name! The reunion got even happier when Jack told us that he still lives in the neighborhood, and had recently begun a local initiative related to books, The Bleecker Area and Merchants’ and Residents’ Association (BAMRA) Bookshelf. I recently caught up with him to learn a little more about the project which will be taking place from November 1-15.

Jack, you’ve been a neighborhood resident and library user all of your life! What exactly is your BAMRA Bookshelf all about?
The BAMRA Bookshelf is an event, known as a stamp rally, designed to encourage local business patronage, learn about local culture, and, if people are feeling inspired, start coming to our meetings and brainstorm on ways we can all get to know each other better. People will be able to pick up a map of the neighborhood at a participating business or Jefferson Market Library. The map will direct them to nine potential businesses to patronize. When they go to one of the businesses and make a purchase, they will get a stamp on their map.

Once they make purchases at five distinct businesses, they can go to any participating location and take a free book on New York City culture, with a custom BAMRA bookmark inside of it. We supplied ten books per business. Each business will carry a unique category of books. If they visit all nine locations, they can take another book. We’re hoping that it spurs conversations between businesses and residents, and brings everyone closer together.

We love this idea because of its local focus, and of course we love books! Where did you get your inspiration to start it up?
Earlier this year at one of our BAMRA meetings, we decided to take a break from the agenda and talk about how happy we were that we had a Little Book Library on LaGuardia Place, outside the garden. I’m one of the younger people in BAMRA, but even though there is an age gap, I share an incredible amount of kinship with the other members.

We all remember a previous Greenwich Village, and we miss the widespread community. It’s quite difficult to maintain when people move in and out because they feel less collective ownership. This isn’t anyone’s fault necessarily, yet I find hopping from neighborhood to neighborhood, or city to city, unfortunately wears at the fabric of those areas. It feels like sometimes we are lamenting this loss in isolation instead of spending time together.

The Little Book Library got me thinking about community, and our block association’s shared love of books. I think you have to be a bit of a book hoarder in order to be a true Villager. So, I started to plan an event around books, knowing that I also wanted to involve our businesses and recruit new members. While I was still ideating, I met with Ginger, who runs Peculier Pub with her family. She’s quite artistic and community-oriented, and she recommended that we host a stamp rally. These are local events where people receive a neighborhood passport, and whenever they go to a participating business and make a purchase, the business stamps their passport. Ginger was connected to a local map artist, Emily Garfield, who did incredible work making the design.

I want people to have hope in the Village again. It starts with getting to know your neighbor and taking responsibility for the place you love. The Bleecker Area and Residents’ and Merchants’ Association can be reached by email at bamranyc@bamranyc.org.

The Jefferson Library will have BAMRA Bookshelf maps at the second floor circulation desk, so stop by to pick one up to see all of the participating businesses! And don’t forget to check out a library book (always free!).