We live in books just like we do in homes. So naturally, when it’s time to move on and move out, some things might (accidentally) get left behind.
Last week, I was scrolling through Instagram Reels and landed on a video that shows how much these lost belongings can reveal about us.
The clip was created by the Library Services department at the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, and showcased the bookmarks its staff discovered while processing returned copies.
The chill music and monochrome background allowed for an interesting game: imagining the owner of each item. How do they look? What kind of person are they? How are their studies going? And, of course, what were they reading?
I liked this fun little challenge so much that I decided to invite you to join me. Below, you will see images of some of the bookmarks, as well as the full reels, and a lovely chat I had with the person behind the project, Meg Gray.
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Part I
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As you can see, the things students choose to track their reading progress with vary a lot in shape, size, and even material. According to Meg Gray, the desk assistant at GSA Library Services who came up with the idea for the whole series, that’s the beauty of it.
“The bookmarks I love the most are ones that reveal something about the reader, like a receipt or a to-do list,” she tells Spellung.
“It feels rewarding to find fragments of human existence that people subconsciously shed, and for a brief moment, I feel let in to that stranger’s day.”
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Part II
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“Part of my role as a library desk assistant is to reshelve and tidy books, and in the process bookmarks naturally appear. The library work I do is mostly comprised of repetitive tasks, so uncovering a funny or interesting bookmark breaks up the monotony and connects me with the students that use the library,” Meg explains.
Turns out, this is something her coworkers also appreciate about the job.
“I came across an Instagram Reel of bookmarks by Oriel College Library and thought it would be a great idea to similarly showcase the bookmarks of Glasgow School of Art Library. This search for bookmarks soon became a team-wide activity, and we love speculating on the crazy bookmarks we’ve found—last week a colleague found a dried cabbage leaf the size of her head.”
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Part III
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I couldn’t find a research paper on the most popular trends in the bookmark universe (hopefully, some graduate reading this will take note of such a deprivation), but there is, as she calls it, a quickie poll by author and illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi.
She doesn’t provide the full methodology of her survey, but the results show that 42% of her fans just use a regular bookmark, 9% commit the horrible atrocity of folding back the corner of a page, and 6% don’t use a bookmark at all. Some of the unusual replies include a Pokémon card, a sock, and a hair tie.
“Working at an art school library, we are, of course, often lucky to find unique and aesthetically pleasing bookmarks in the form of sketches, prints, and photographs,” Meg Gray says.
“I particularly enjoy the material contrast between different sections in our library, like the use of torn tracing paper in the architecture section or cute animal post-it notes in the design section.”
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Part IV
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Meg still has all the artifacts she’s collected, and with a few favorable decisions from the top, the treasure could be preserved.
“The bookmarks are currently stored in a box in my locker, but we have plans to install an exhibition of them later in the year,” she says.
“I view the collection as an authentic, candid snapshot of the daily lives of Glasgow’s art students, so my dream would be for GSA’s archive to take them on as a permanent acquisition.”
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