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LIBRARY ON FOOTPATH : AN INNOVATIVE IDEA
LIBRARY ON FOOTPATH
Populsdorfer Eli a street of city Bon in Germany, where the books are kept in a cupboard, Niether have any lock nor any alarm. People open the cupborard and take the books with them and after reading the same they reshelf the book.
This is a phenomenal library of Book-lovers in the Bon city of Germeney. The name given to this library is “Ofner Buesher Shronk” which means “the open shelf of Books”. Nine years ago the idea was given by a university student which now become a blessing for Book Lovers.
Thus it began -
A person linked to this project Mr. Andre Shlog says that, Their Citizen Foundation “Buerger Shtefutung” organizes a competition every year. In this event participents are supposed to give new ideas for welfare of Bon City. In 2002 a university student has proposed to make this kind of library. The members of “Buerger Shtefutung” have liked this idea very much. In 2003 it had taken shape and the first Open book cupboard had been started. Now these have been increased to 6. 2 cupboards have been placed at hospitals and other places. Each and every year a new cupboard get placed somewhere.
Benifits to people of all age groups -
According to Shlog, “In 2013 the first cupboard would complete its 10 years. Children, Sinior Citizens, Ladies, and students all take benefits daily. Always It gets surrounded by the crowd.” It is very much useful to those who can’t afford buying expensive books, but want to read. They are just supposed to come to this cupboard.
Circulation of Two Thousand Books -
300 books are kept in each cupboard. There are total of 2000 books in all cupboards of the city. These books get replaced with 2-3 days. The benifit of same is that each time readers get new books and even at no cost. Lthough most of the books are available in germen only, but some time people put some books of English and Turkish too.
Fifty Cities have accepted the model -
In the short period of time this model of phenomenal library started from the Bon city has been become popular up to great extent. At present the libraries based on this model are being run in more than 50 cities of Germeny. Shlog says on every weekend we receive phone calls from different cities asking information about the open cupboard. We wish that this type of system should be created in all over the world so that people could read more and more books.
Respect for Books -
On question of book lose or non-return of books Shlog says the local people have a great respect for books. They do not make any damage to books. The people who take the books also reshelf the books. According to Shlog They daily passes through the cupboard kept in the Populsdorfer Eli street. Every day new books are seen to them.
The opening of Citizen Foundation “Buerger Shtefutung” has been made by 170 members. Each and every members has collected 500 Euro or more. Using the interest of this amount organization run different walfare scheme. The newspaper is also published for 6 to 10 years children quarterly. 30 Thousand Euros get spent on Idea competition every year.
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Replies to This Forum
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Permalink Reply by Shagufta Prween Siddiqi on
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@Sharma and Barman Sir why not we test this innovative idea at local level
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Permalink Reply by Soumya Singh Tomar on
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But how we secure the books on foothpath
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I think it is an innovative idea !
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Permalink Reply by Chander Datt on
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idea is good but how can we secure the books.
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Permalink Reply by Minakshi Yadav on
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In India the poor children stay on the road side with their families.Our government is providing free education to them. Footpath Library can be an aid to such people.
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Permalink Reply by Ritesh Kumar Tiwari on
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Please find the attachment for the English translation of this article.
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LIBRARY ON FOOTPATH.docx, 12 KB
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Permalink Reply by Parvez Ahmad on
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Thanks sir...........
It is better to paste this text here....
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Permalink Reply by Rakesh K. Sharma on
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Thanks Mr. Tiwari to provide international access to the article.
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Permalink Reply by Bahni Mukhopadhyay on
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Hope one day India will also be able to follow the line & citizens will be responsible enough to maintain such a library! The beauty of the concept lies in its being truly 'open to all'. A lock & key will damage the philosophy.
However, there are many NGOs working for the street children who have set up free tutorial homes including libraries. Actually, no odds in life can prevent a person from reading/studying if s/he wants to. I have seen a boy in a Cafeteria in a hospital campus, engrossed in reading his books which he keeps in an almirah inside the Cafe itself.
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Permalink Reply by Harilal, G. on
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Very interesting information Our.Local authorities can experimentally place a few open book cupboards in selected footpaths
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Permalink Reply by R Sunil Kumar on
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Very innovative idea but cannot be implemented at footpath level yes but at society level ... there are many residence societies RWA who are functioning they can tie up with some library/public library and take the responsibility of the books. These racks/cupboards can be placed near to the RWA/Socity office. All big innovation starts with a small step...what u say .. and suggestions ....
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Permalink Reply by Ganta Srinivasa Rao on
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Nice Idea. But are we able to do in India?
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