Lot: the library Outside the Walls, or how to make culture accessible to all
The Quercy Bouriane library network offers bimonthly events to make culture accessible to everyone. The first: a meeting at a restaurant to discuss books or cultural news. Second: delivering books to people who cannot move.
instead Pitiful where Twenty thousand leagues under the sea ? Regardless, the pleasure of reading is the same. A pleasure that the Quercy Bouriane communes community library network seeks to democratize. Through bimonthly activities, their goal is to make culture, and especially reading, accessible to everyone through the Hors les Murs library. “We move when people can’t move,” said Marianne Terrusse, director of the culture department at the Quercy Bouriane community of communities. “It’s also to make life a little better,” he said.
On the first Thursday of the month, a meeting is organized at the café l’Escale de Concorès. Nadia Da Costa, librarian, offers a selection of books for all audiences. It is possible to subscribe and reserve. The goal is to share a moment with readers about cultural news, but also a hot drink. An initiative born before covid, and unfortunately stopped by the epidemic. It was reborn from its ashes in just two months. To the delight of some followers.
Home delivery of books
The second Thursday of the month is home delivery. Volunteers and librarians go to around twenty people, directly in their homes, in the Quercy Bouriane sector, to give them something to read. So far, about twenty beneficiaries are benefiting from it. Especially the elderly, especially women. “We are going to an isolated public, who find it difficult to move. It is important to maintain a social link”, explains Marianne. There is no doubt that this monthly meeting is eagerly awaited. But what are they reading? “A lot of historical novels and on the soil. The romance too, that works well”, describes Marianne.
How to introduce yourself to benefit from portage? All you have to do is call the library network. A team of about ten volunteers and 5 librarians always make sure to find room for everyone. But it’s not always easy. “We can do training in the community of municipalities if other cities want to do the same”, smiled the director of the department of culture.
Go to the people
The library Hors les Murs is also an appointment with the little ones. The network works in a crèche and schools. Reading, presenting albums or even Kamishibaï, which literally means paper theater. “We circulate illustrated sheets in a frame. In the back, we read the texts. The children can see the illustrations. Very lively because we can also create sound effects, put on music”, explained Marianne. An activity that appeals to young and old alike. “At school, I take the example of migrant children who don’t necessarily speak French: touching them is also touching their parents. This can be a way of bringing them to the library”, says Marianne .
Because the goal is that everyone turns to reading. And as Marianne says: “Don’t wait for people to come to us, but go to them”. In fact, the goal is to include people in poverty. “Some people don’t feel worthy to go to the library. There are some who have cultural skills, others who don’t. Our goal is really to try to democratize access to culture,” said of the director of the culture department. Recently, the librarians visited the city travelers camp. “We were in the middle of the caravans. We always make sure to adapt to our environment”, explained Marianne. Or in a parking lot. Like the imagination that reading brings, the Hors les Murs library regularly reinvents itself so that everyone has access to culture.
