Open Libraries

                                          

            At one of my visits to Bonn, I was taking a stroll on a walkway overlooking the Rhine. On my right was an elevated bank of greenery, and in the middle of it I saw a colourful structure that looked like a piece of Art. Curious to see what it was, I walked across and found a book case filled with books, some in good condition, some dog eared. I looked around to see if there was an owner who had set up his book shop. A young woman walked towards the book case and deposited a book in it.

“Are you the owner?” I asked.

“You must be new to this place,” she replied, “This is an open library – a public book case and you can help yourself to books free of charge or if you have books to spare, you can add them to the library.”

“But don’t people take away books and never return them?”

“Not usually,” she said, “These book cases enrich public spaces. While looking at the books, people chat with each other, make friends and also promote the idea of reading and exchanging books. You will find these book cabinets all over Germany. Bonn and Hannover were the first hosts of the Open Library.”

I browsed through the shelves and found a couple of books in English which I borrowed.

            Travelling through Germany, I saw several of these Open Libraries. But the one that made an unforgettable impression was the one in Berlin. It was cut out of a huge stump of a tree. Using the trunk as a book stand, niches were artistically cut into it, in which books were placed. In 2008, a cooperative of forestry workers, carpenters, cabinet makers and book sellers know as BAUFACHFRAU designed this work of art.

            Open libraries with their stack of books are really a blessing to those who cannot afford to buy them. It is also a nice way of disposing of books that one has read and want to pass on. When a book is left in a public place to be picked up and read by others, it is called Book Crossing.

            The idea of an Open Library was first propagated by two artists Michael Craig and Yair Guttner in Graz, Austria, in 1991. They created these freely accessible book cases as pieces of Communal Art. In Krems, Austria, several book cases are erected in a Jewish cemetery. Hungary and Switzerland also have similar libraries.

            Could these open libraries ever be a part of the Indian scene? Would they ever survive the onslaught of vandals and rag pickers, who would make a few bucks by selling the books and the book cabinets? Or would they be set on fire by mischief makers for a few moments of fun?

Eva Bell