What we did on our summer vacation

For our summer “vacation” library staff were asked to participate in a “sketchbook” project. The project was inspired by the famous Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project. We modified it to include collage, because it lessens the anxiety of those who consider themselves to be less creative than others. 

The sketch books will be on display in the library, so feel free to come in and look through them! In the meantime, here are a few highlights. I was really proud of the creativity and the fact that some of the staff pushed through the fear and actually did drawings. Others collaged, but the wide variety of styles and themes is impressive!

I will start with the book of Linda Lesperance, our interlibrary loan coordinator. Her book is amazing and I wish I was showing the entire book. It is humorous, educational, and very detailed. You could spend hours going through hers. I picked my favorite section to show here:

Next up is Marilee Brown, our Circulation Supervisor. Side note: she is our party planner and does an excellent job as party host. She concentrated on food. We all love this one. It made me hungry.

Assistant Director and reference librarian Leah Plocharczyk was one of the ones who went the extra mile to draw every single page! Kudos to her. She said this is a self-portrait!

Circulation Assistant Cookie Davis, went the educational route. She also drew hers! I applaud her because I like that it is environmental and telling us important water facts.

Next up is Sr. Library Technical Assistant William Howerton. His undergraduate degree is in Anthropology; so he concentrated on giving us a tour of historical sites and foods of Mexico. He had a little character host his pages. So creative and fun.

The next staff member wants to remain anonymous. Sigh. This person gets a slap on the hand because they only did three pages. However, the first page WINS and no other pages were needed. In all fairness this staff member asked for an extension to finish the book.

Lastly here are a few of my drawings.

I hope this post shows managers, workers and those who have bottled up creative tendencies to let them out. Go sketch! Go collage. 

And because this is a library and we are often asked important copyright permission questions, I am including these notes. Copyright is a tricky and complicated interpretation of the law. You can follow the links below to read more on the subject.

These staff sketch books are for educational purposes and not for any commercial gain [which does not always mean it is ok]. This is the only time any of the images will be online.

[the follwing is taken from http://info.legalzoom.com/legal-use-disney-characters-21231.html]. 

      Fair Use

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, fair use refers to limited circumstances when it may be permissible to make reference to or reproduce a sample of a protected character without getting permission from the creator.

     Transformative Use

 Another way to legally use characters could be to use them in what the law refers to as "transformative use." Transformative use requires that you change, or transform, the character enough so that it is no longer a mere copy of the original. The resulting transformation is sometimes called a "derivative work." For example, if a painter created an original oil painting of his family and included the Disney character Tinkerbell as a family member, his use of Tinkerbell would be fair use because of its commentary that the artist considers Tinkerbell a member of his family. The use of Tinkerbell in the painting could be could be characterized as a transformative use, and the painting could be called a derivative work.

MORE on the subject: FAN ART

There is also something called fan art. Here is an artical Fan Art vs. Copyright Infringements:  What's Legal?