Lindsay France/University Photography

Cornell Library is collecting books until Dec. 8 for the Humanities Book Art Project. All Cornell authors are asked to loan books to a sculpture representing Cornell scholarship. Above, art Professor Buzz Spector, right, who will create the sculpture, accepts astronomy Associate Professor Jim Bell's "Postcards from Mars," an artistic representation of images from the Mars rovers. Copyright © Cornell University

Wanted: The loan of books authored by Cornell faculty members, staff or students for a once-in-a-lifetime art project.

Hundreds of books by Cornellians have been collected for the Humanities Book Art Project, but more are needed to build a sculpture that represents the reach and impact of Cornell scholarship.

The first book to arrive was Michael Kammen's "Visual Shock." Jonathan Culler contributed 50 of his works in English and in translation. Two volumes of Donizetti scores curated by Rececca Harris-Warrick, as well as Neil Zaslow's volume on Mozart and Mary Beth Norton's acclaimed works in American history, followed.

The smallest book? "Being There," a 4-inch-square volume of poetry by Mann Library's Tom Clausen. Michele Brown, a conservation specialist in Olin Library, loaned a book she made by hand with members of her family. Physics senior lecturer Robert Lieberman brought in his works of fiction. Astronomer Jim Bell contributed his hot-off-the-press "Postcards from Mars."

Professor of Art Buzz Spector will create a ziggurat-like, "C"-shaped sculpture made of books representing Cornell's scholarly oeuvre. The sculpture will be exhibited in New York City, Jan. 12-19, in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning's 17th Street space and on campus at the Kroch Library's Hirshland Gallery in the spring.

Books for the project will be accepted until Friday, Dec. 8. All Cornell authors are encouraged to bring their books on any topic in the humanities and arts to the circulation desk of any branch of the Cornell University Library.

Provost Biddy Martin, the Cornell Library, the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, Polaroid Corp. and Cornell's Office of Humanities Communications are among the Humanities Book Art Project's sponsors.