In New York, Hurricane Sandy destroyed, or forced to close, many libraries. Fortunately, however, there are those who have worked hard to do it yourself to "plug" the situation, especially in the most disadvantaged communities. They are the librarians of the Urban Librarians Unite, who have thought of creating micro libraries and placing them on the sidewalks of Brooklyn and Queens.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
The cuts to public and recent budgets natural disasters they are bringing reading and books to their knees in the US. Especially in New York, where Hurricane Sandy destroyed, or forced to close, many libraries. Fortunately, however, there are those who have worked hard to do it yourself to "plug" the situation, especially in the most disadvantaged communities. They are the librarians of the Urban Librarians Unite, who have thought about creating micro libraries and place them on the sidewalks of Brooklyn and Queens.
These little boxes, painted a flashy orange and installed right next to the closed libraries, contain about a hundred books at a time, which come distributed free to citizens, without expecting them to go back, as foreseen by the enlightening principles of book crossing, or a “different” way to exchange books, letting them find their readers almost by chance.
This is why micro libraries are a great way to get free, surprise reading material made available to anyone still recovering from the storm. “There is still a lot of chaos around - explains Urban Librarians Unite- e many people are still in trouble. These books are a little spark of entertainment and provide a bit of a distraction, reminding everyone that the library hasn't forgotten its community. Our children's book campaign was a great success and now aWe have thousands of books to distribute".
Of course, these micro libraries will never replace the "real" libraries, but they offer a modicum of comfort to local communities affected by natural catastrophe, particularly to children and families, and remind people that their librarians are always ready and willing to respond to the needs of communities, as they always have. Even with book crossing, a perfect method to demonstrate, even if the library structure is in ruins, that they are thinking of books and people.
Roberta Ragni
Read also:
- Bookcrossing: in Berlin, books sprout from trees with Book forest
- Old telephone booths become mini-libraries for book-sharing
- Bookcrossing for children: the exchange that gives meaning to books
- Biblio-Mat, the vending machine for rare and ancient books
