In the library where young readers grow up

Another stage of “Biblioteche in tour” (Libraries on tour); here, you will find the webpage with all of the articles about our libraries.

 

“If I have to think of an adjective to describe the library in Gazzada, I’d use the term ‘inclusive’.” Cristina Pala has run the village library for many years. What she has always tried to promote, ever since the number of loans was not even one per inhabitant, is to get the books out, but also to “bring” readers into a place for meeting and socialising. And she has succeeded.

Come any Monday morning, and you will run into a group of children from the kindergarten who read with children from the association “Magari Domani” (Maybe Tomorrow), a non-profit organisation that deals with young people with disabilities.

 

Children sitting in a circle, on library’s big carpets, and teenagers on chairs, helping in the lively reading.

In short, the library in Gazzada is a place of culture, but especially a place for socialising and integrating. “Even the refugees living in the village often come here. Accompanied by volunteers from the associations, they leaf through a few books, they have library cards and borrow the books,” Cristina explained. “Their goal is twofold: to learn a little Italian, and to visit places in the village.”

And it is the same goal that is driving the project “Magari Domani”. “Young people with disabilities come here to the library a few times a week,” Vanessa Belli, an educator with the non-profit, explained. “They help the children to read, they’re involved in creative workshops, they collaborate with Cristina in arranging the books on the shelves, and some of them are producing a big book with the association’s experiences. For the young people, this is an important moment: they feel they’re part of a project.”

But Cristina and the volunteer who helps her, Laura Magnani, are staking a lot also on the project “Nati per Leggere” (Born to Read). She explained, “We were among the first to promote this initiative, many years ago. In time, it improved a lot and now mothers come here to experience a peaceful moment with their children, but also to “learn” to read books, and in this way to develop a love of reading, even as adults. When every child born in our village turns two, it receives a little book from us; it is a way of introducing ourselves and of welcoming them into our community of readers,” which is growing by the year.

 

THE LIBRARY’S FIGURES (2016 data)

 

There are 13,165 books (the multimedia system contains 1699) 

Active users: 1059

Number of books loaned per year: 17,074

(number of loans per inhabitant 3.22)

 

LOCATION

 

Comprehensive School – Via Matteotti, 13

 

LIBRARY’S OPENING TIMES

Monday: 2.30 / 6 p.m.

Tuesday: 9 a.m. /12 noon

Thursday: 2.30 / 6 p.m.

Friday: 9 a.m. /12 noon

Saturday: 9 a.m. /12 noon

 

Tel. 0332-464237