When Is a Book a Bag?

BookBag, designed by Kathy Kelly

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When It’s a BookBag, designed by Kathy Kelly.

Every day, each one of us is surrounded by an enormous amount of stuff that is continually updated, with the outdated version being tossed to make room for the new. A few common examples include phone books, association directories, and special event banners.

Law librarian Kathy Kelly has a 9-to-5 view that includes law books—lots of them.  Have you ever seen one?  Some can weigh up to 10 pounds a piece and their covers are usually quite beautiful, oftentimes made with leather.

One day the contents of these massive volumes will be available exclusively in eco-friendly digital format.  But for now, this law librarian makes the gently used covers of these books whole again in the form of unique Bookbags.

A dedicated single mother and law librarian in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA,  Kelly spends 5-7 hours creating each high quality one-of-a-kind bag. 

Last year, Kelly entered three prototypes in the art exhibit for the Innovation Erie design contest and was named a semifinalist. Shortly thereafter, the orders started coming in.

While Kelly still loves her job as a law librarian, she dreams of a time when these purses, handbags, and clutches could turn into a career for her. Until then, she should sleep well at night knowing that she has helped recycle 8,000 pounds of paper in 2009 and lightened our ever mounting landfill loads a bit.