As part of the celebration of the Courtright Memorial Library’s 50th anniversary, a temporary art installation was created. Titled “175 Cardinals,” it is a collection of 175 origami birds hung in the south facing windows of the first floor of the building. The “175” is a reference to the University’s 175th anniversary. While most of the cardinals are red, there are 50 tan cardinals representing the library’s 50th anniversary.

The installation was devised by Alexis Fintel and Shiva Shakeri, ideated by Tiffany Lipstreu, and supervised and installed by Rebecca Raeske-Grinch, with the assistance of student workers Jordan Stoll and Grace Takahashi. The installation will remain in place until the end of spring term 2023.

On many of the tan cardinals, a “wish” for the future of the library has been written. These were collected from Otterbein and library VIPs, who have all had a hand in shaping and guiding the Courtright Memorial Library. These were scanned before they were turned into cardinals, and can be read below. In some instances, photographs of the people writing out their wishes can be seen with the scans.