IS a small revolution. Very slowly, even in Italy, the Libraries of things, physical spaces completely similar to classic libraries, where however it is not necessary to be silent, and where the most diverse objects can be found on the shelves, ready for loan.
Blenders, bicycle pumps, board games, bread making machines, work tools, party decorations and household tools. It is therefore useless to buy an object (for example a socket screwdriver for hexagonal nuts) which, immediately after, will no longer be needed.
Libraries of things: they are only borrowed
Here things are not bought, not rented, not exchanged, not given. They simply borrow, use them, give them back. The first, and most successful, Library of Things is called Leila and was born in 2016, in Bologna. On the wall, at the entrance to the warehouse a few steps from the high-speed train station, there is an inscription in large letters: “Basically we need to use, not possess“.
THE benefitsexplains Antonio Beraldi who is president of Leila, they are many. For the environmentbecause you avoid producing pollution due to the subsequent disposal of that product, and cheap, because you avoid buying an object that risks being soon forgotten in cellars or attics that are already too crowded.
“The screwdriver seems to be the most requested item, but even the video projector remains little time on the shelves. Camping tents were the most booked item along with sports gear. Like the climbing harness and diving masks »says Beraldi.
«Like every spring and summer too the pressure washer, the brush cutter, the three-wheeled trolley for a move they were very popular. Without thinking about the objects useful to accompany the growth of the little ones. The car seat, the bike seat, the accessories for preparing baby food, the stroller, the sterilizer and the bouncer ».
In the Library of Things, objects are borrowed. Even the blender
Sharing as a way of life
Born on the model of the “Libraries of things”, libraries of objects already widespread in Germany, England, Holland and CanadaLeila today is an innovative social entrepreneurship project that arises from green theories that push for recycling and reuse, but which also affects the social and cultural level.
«There are 450 members of Leila. To be part of the association it is not enough to pay (among other things the fee is just 20 euros for the first year, then it decreases) but at least one personal item must be made available. In this way the bond between the shareholders is strengthened, trust in each other increases, the sense of community is strengthened »explains Beraldi. What if something accidentally breaks? No problem, the partners put funds to repair it.
Born shyly and survived the pandemic, the Biblioteca delle cose di Bologna is in good health today and an ever greater diffusion. Beraldi cites an eloquent data: «In 2020-2021 we increased the membership cards, even though they were open intermittently. This means that people have started to understand that that of sharing objects (as well as spaces) is not only one of the possible directions, but also one concrete possibility, tangible and within reach“.
Another surprising aspect, he adds, “is that among our members there are not only young people, the “radical chic”, ecologists or those who have reduced economic capacity. Leila is liked and frequented by everyone, regardless of age and class ».
In the Library of Things there is also a laboratory for repairing objects
Another feature of the project is the desire to work together. «We started with small carpentry workshops for children – explains the president – and then we invented the Leila CiapLab on rubber, a cargo bike which can be transformed into an itinerant workshop that carries multi-thematic workshops around or into a tool to promote street games in the pedestrian streets of the center and suburbs ».
Furthermore, in the coming months, Leila will open her own on an ongoing basis laboratory to offer the possibility of self-repair of objects, as has been the case for some time in the “Repair cafes”, the symbolic places of the circular economy equipped with workstations with the tools necessary to fix anything. “Leila’s goal is to propose new habits through an ambitious and irreverent cultural movement” underlines Beraldi.
Soon “mailboxes” in libraries
Today only three people work full time on the project, because despite the success of the initiative, revenues are scarce (in fact the Library of Things is mainly financed through tenders). There are many ideas for the future though: «In a few months we would like to install collection points in public libraries in Bologna, similar to the Amazon lockers, where members will be able to take and return items booked through the site. It is an ambitious program on which we have been discussing for some time with the Bologna administration »he continues.
“In any case, it does not seem so far-fetched that one day an adult, a young person, a family could pass by the library, leaf through a newspaper, pick up a book, and take home board games, computer cards and even a wine press. table »he adds. His dream is that places like Leila can soon become “community hubs”, spaces for socialization and cooperation, lively, pulsating and friendly places where anyone can meet to exchange objects, projects and ideas and projects, develop intellectual or emotional relationships. Futurism? Just try.
Leila, meanwhile, is an open source project: it means that everyone can propose the idea in their own city. A similar experience also exists in Palermo, it’s called Zero and has two offices: inside Palazzo Castrofilippo (via Alloro 64) and in piazza Kalsa 31. Here too the carpentry tools are the most coveted.
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