Display Window - Library Shelves

In August 2005 Apple installed a new front window display at its retail stores that reflects the company's social roots--its contains an extraordinary collection of books that most corporations would have avoided at all costs. But not Apple! The books they selected cover the environment, communes, sexuality, race relations, philosophy, science, law, education, art and other subjects. Many of the books were authored in the 1970s, and don't shy away from the critical social issues of America.

The window consists of a suspended vinyl panel, upon which are printed photographs of library shelves, and books. The panel is printed on both sides, so that the bookshelf is visible both inside and outside the store. In front of the panel is a realistic-looking library ladder, and a suspended shelf of iBooks and Powerbooks with the tagline, "The only books you'll need."

Not all of the displayed books are unique--the photos that comprise the full shelving are repeated at various points, although it's not obvious to the casual viewer. The photos are slightly out of focus--you can make out larger words on the spine, but not smaller type.

Besides being an effective window display, the selection of book titles provides a glimpse into Apple's corporate mind, which has always centered around philosophy and sociology issues, as well as computing.

The book titles all focus on the environment, communes, sexuality, race relations, philosophy, science, on ideas, law, education, art.

More technically, many of the books have library call numbers in the 300-series of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system. The DDC uses "300" for titles related to sociology, anthropology, statistics, political science, economics, law, public administration, social problems and services, education, commerce, communications, transportation, and customs.

The books are not shelved in their proper Dewey order, and several titles are not labeled with a DDC number.

Among the titles included in the display is:

  • Black Cargoes - Daniel Mannix, 1965
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Homosexuality (2 copies)
  • Mississippi Challenge - Mildred Pitts Walter, 1992
  • The Civil Rights Movement
  • Race Relations - Harry H. Kitano, 1996
  • The Great Tradition - F.R. Leavis, 1948
  • The Handboook of Physics - Berenson, Harris, Stoecker, Lutz, 2002
  • Gone A-Whaling - Jim Murphy, 1998
  • The Lyrical Ballads 1798-1805 - Wordsworth and Colleridge
  • Winds of Renewal - And Bailey, 1998
  • The Hispanic Americans - Milton Meltzer, 1982
  • Steinbeck
  • Plants in Danger - Edward R. Ricciuti, 1979
  • Encounters with the Archdruid - John McPhee, 1977
  • The Jungle - Upton Sinclair, 1906
  • Wall Street - Doris Faber, 1979
  • The Great Chain of Being - Arthur Oncken Lovejoy, 1970
  • Another Way of Life - Patricia Baum, 1973
  • The American Communist Party, Bxxx and Xxxx
  • In our Defense - Ellen Alderman & Caroline Kennedy, 1992
  • The Right of the People
  • Women in American Indian Society - Rayna Diane Green, 1992
  • Animal Farm - George Orwell, 1945
  • Complete Stories and Poems - Edgar Allen Poe
  • The Essential Kierkegaard - Soren Kierkegaard
  • Andy Warhol Prints
  • Stonewall - Martin Duberman, 1994
  • The White Power Movement - Elaine Landau, 1993
  • Hate Groups - Deborah Able, 1995
  • To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
  • General Chemistry - Linus Pauling, 1988
  • World Atlas
  • Poisoned Power - John W. Gofman & Arthur R. Tamplin, 1971/1979
  • Before Nature Dies - Jean Dorst, 1970
  • The Quiet Crisis - Stewart Udall, 1963
  • By Bullet, Bomb and Dagger - Richard Suskind, 1971
  • To the Barricades - Alix Shulman, 1971
  • Communes Through the Ages - Alfred Apsler, 1974
  • The American Indians / The Women's Way - Time-Life
  • Racism / Divided by Color - Newman & Layfield, 1995
  • The Pacifist Conscience - Peter Meyer, 1966
  • The Puerto Ricans - Jerome J. Aliotta, 2003 (part of the series: "The Immigrant Experience")
  • A Country of Strangers - David A. Shipler, 1997
  • Farewell to Jim Crow - R. Kent Rasmussen, 1998
  • The Sweet Flypaper of Life - Roy Decarava, Langston Hughes, 1984
  • Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronté, 1847
  • The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemmingway, 1951
  • The U.S. Constitution
  • What Marx Really Said - H.B. Acton, 1967
  • The Enduring Federalist - Charles Beard, 1962
  • The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture - David Brion Davis, 1989
  • Forth Acres - Mark Day, 1971
  • Art and Craft in Africa - Laure Meyer, 1995
  • The Day America Crashed - Tom Shachtman, 1979
  • It Is So Ordered - Daniel Berman, 1966
  • Freedom When? - James Farmer, 1965



Here are some detailed photos of the window display, taken from the inside of the store.


The window display (from inside) consists of photos of books on a shelf, printed onto vinyl which is hung in the window. The shelving effect is visible from both outside and inside the store. In the middle of the photo you can see the shelf that displays Apple's laptop computers.


A closer view of the printed vinyl showing the various titles. Some of the titles are repeated--the fifth book from the right on the lower shelf ("Race Relations") is repeated on the upper shelf (left of center). The AC power plugs for the Powerbooks in the display window are at the top of the photo.


An even closer view of the front window display. The cords at the top-center of the photo lead to the Powerbooks on display in the window. The bottom right books are slightly distorted from the vinyl shade being displaced.