Dead End Books (now located at Giovanni's Room as September, 2025) is a lending library founded in 2022 by Natalie Martin and Ethan Shaw. Originally subscription based, it is now pay-what-you-wish and fully operates on the generous support of users. The barrier to entry for art books is uniquely expensive and exclusive, requiring either great resources or prior education and affiliation with the arts. The majority of university libraries or special collections are site-specific, have a complicated application process, and don’t allow you to remove the books from the premises. Dead End Books believes the books themselves are art objects and should be experienced in hand. They want you to engage with these materials on your own terms and in your own environments.