The pop-up Exchange Library of the "Zosimaia" Public Central Historical Library Ioannina
An experimental bibliophilic project for the city, which started started in 2017.
Books everywhere
The global trend now makes books pop up everywhere, in imaginative and interdependent ways.
In 2008, Antonio da Conceic'o Ferreira turned the bus he was driving into a small library, creating the "Culture on the Bus" institution. Every day he offers 15 titles on the shelf of his bus, available to passengers on the Sobradinho II - Plano Piloto line in Brazil. This mobile library provides them with a pleasant and enlightening journey. Initially, Antonio recorded who borrowed what. But today he doesn't care whether users return the book. He is more interested in the thought that a book is constantly changing hands. His dream is for his idea to be implemented on all public transport lines in his country.
Bookcrossing is a practice, original and very popular, which first appeared in April 200, inspired by Ron Hornbacker, a developer from Missouri, USA. His aim was to create a free book club around the world, completely self-managed. Self-management was the innovative part of the idea!
The Oxford Epistolary Dictionary included the definition of bookcrossing in its 2004 edition. It is the practice of leaving a book in a public place for others to find and read, who will then do the same. What is the process that is followed to enable a book to start its journey from reader to reader and from country to country? With bookcrossing, books are "released" on benches, in cafes, cafeterias, metro stations and generally in any public space, so that they can travel freely. What this means in practice is that the bookcrossing movement has enabled a huge number of books to be dispersed around the world, forming a library that is constantly on the move.
Another interesting initiative in this direction is the project "Athens as a book" (April 2018 - April 2019). Athens Venizelos airport. Passengers departing from Athens find ... "book neighbourhoods" in the departure lounges, for a special reading experience. They "travel" for a while through the pages of great Greek poets and prose writers, before the departure of their flight. Great works of Greek literature - in Greek or translated into English - next to the travellers' seats.
So books sit on the benches and the benches become books inspired by classical literature in London, an initiative of the National Literacy Trust, which auctioned them in order to contribute to the fight against illiteracy in Britain (London 2014).
Spare libraries
Another case of an Open Library and perhaps the freest example is the Exchange Libraries. Nowadays in many cases there are big cuts in libraries. Some are being saved, others are being closed.
The crisis of any kind (economic, health, etc.) does not leave much room for buying new books, as they are not included in the list of household basics. The hand-to-hand exchange between friends eventually runs out too. And so pop up libraries spring up. A little out of necessity, a little out of solidarity and a lot of improvisation. Phone booths, old containers, makeshift roadside houses, public transport stops, become free exchange libraries. Others spring up in more crowded places. They are constructed from recycled materials, become one with the city's backdrop or are interactive artworks and redefine our freedom in urban space. [Source: www.doctv.gr].
The idea of an exchange library is certainly not a new idea, since it has been operating for years in various countries abroad. Only recently, however, they have started to "spring up" with great success in various and different regions of Greece (universities, schools, neighborhoods, seaside and islands). Everyone can leave their own book and pick up another one. The books thus travel from reader to reader and live a new life instead of remaining unclaimed on the shelves or thrown away.
The Exchange Library of "Zosimaia"
Η δική μας μικρή ανταλλακτική βιβλιοθήκη αποτελεί, από τον Ιούνιο του
Since June 2017, our small exchange library has been an experimental bibliophile project for our city.
In our case, our experience of seeing books being thrown away in our city's bins or anonymously in our library's book return box, usually after clearing out individual libraries, led us to this thought. So we thought we would pilot it in our area.
You can leave books, school supplies, comics, magazines, magazines, travel guides, fairy tales, CDs and even toys in the exchange library. Of course the material should be in good condition and not used as a rubbish bin. We are very pleased because there is constant recycling of material. We also encourage the users of our exchange library to write something of their own on the item they leave ( a signature, a dedication, a remembrance...) so that, among other things, commercial exploitation is prevented.
It is an alternative to the traditional lending library as it
- does not require any registration,
- is open to the public 24 hours a day,
-the material is managed by those who use the library as a replacement and
- is generally an open library.