La Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea (The Little Amantea Library) is a multi-purpose space created by Associazione La Guarimba, with the support of Fondazione Carical (Carical Foundation), in 2024 in order to increase access to culture in the city.
The library is welcome to all.
ADDRESS
Via Mazzini, 26
HOURS
Open every day from 09:00 to 18:00.
SERVICES
Study Room
Internet
Book Loans
Recording Studio
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On August 6, 2024 the Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea ( Little Library of Amantea ) first opened. A multi-purpose space dedicated to art, culture, education, and creativity.
Located in the living center of Amantea, the Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea ( Little Library of Amantea ) wants to be a space of sharing, meeting, and deliberation for students and readers of all ages, in which they can grow culturally without having to confront innaccessible costs or having to emigrate to big centers.
The area composes of three principal rooms : a library and study room, equiped with free internet and computers, a recording studio, and a conference room with a projector.
The bibliographic archive will continue to grow gradually, based on the demands and exigencies of the community. Our intention is to collect the lost books of the city and buy some new ones, to satisfy the needs of readers who are as vast and heterogeneous a group possible. The library will count accademic books ( in which there will be dictionaries and reference texts ), novels, comics, novellas, fantasy, etc… Guests are able to consult the texts in the library or borrow them for a set loaning time.
The project, supported by Fondazione Carical ( Carical Foundation ), was born in 2021, following an analysis of the needs and shortcomings that largely affect students and workers in the area.
We have been working closely with locals in Amantea for ten years, and our experience has allowed us to analyze the state of cultural offerings and social aggregation in the community. Our impression as young people living and working in the area has always been that of great potential severely limited by the lacking investment into the region.
The marginalized segments of the community (young people, migrants, and the elderly) suffer from neglect and the absence of initiatives dedicated to them, which can only be experienced electronically and at inaccessible costs for many families. In addition, the absence of spaces dedicated to them, such as accessible public parks or play areas, makes it difficult for them to congregate beyond personal initiatives.
In the hinterland the situation is even more precarious, where several municipalities live in greater isolations and abondonment. The inhabitants of nearby municipalities Aiello, Cleto, Belmonte, Longobardi, Fiumefreddo Bruzio, and the entire surrounding area, a total of about 10,000 people, refer to Amantea as a commercial center where they go on weekends and during the summer period.
With this information in mind, we carried out a survey to understand what the community really needs, producing a questionnaire aimed at young people up to age 25 ( school students, college students and young workers ), with questions to help us understand their wants and expectations.
We collected a sample of 100 valid responses representative of our target audience. From the questionnaire, it emerged that 92 percent of Amantea students are forced to study at home, highlighting problems such as distraction, lack of adequate internet connection, or a personal desk. Of them, 91 percent responded that they would attend a study hall or library to study. We found many students’ need quiet spaces, centrally located in Amantea, with internet connection and where they can socialize with others their age.
Seventy percent of them expressed wanting a library where they could also borrow books and comics.
Ninety-two percent of the participants expressed a desire for a movie theater, while the entirety of those practicing art disciplines such as music, dance, and theater (about 25 percent of the total) would appreciate a dedicated rehearsal space. Fifty-nine percent of them expressed a desire to attend classes and workshops in art disciplines.
From this information we began to imagine the space, how it could be divided, what it should contain, and how it should be used. The initial idea was to build a new floor within the building that houses our offices, so as to gradually grow our house of culture in Amantea.
From the very beginning, the project had to contend with bureaucratic obstacles and delays that would have greatly slowed down the birth of the space.
For this reason, following the sale of a space in the building adjacent to our offices, it was concluded that the best solution was to purchase an existing space and transform it into the Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea.
The purchase was finalized on July 5, 2024. With the goal of making the space usable at the start of the festival, work on the renovation of the space began immediately. Despite the short time available and usual problems that such work presupposes, the Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea was inaugurated on August 6th, thanks to the work of a team of professionals as well as the entire Guarimba team. It is the first library in the area with a study room, conference room with a projector, and recording studio.
The event was attended by more than fifty people. In addition to the local community, the mayors of the municipalities of Cleto, Lago, San Pietro in Amantea, Belmonte, Longobardi, Fiumefreddo, and Aiello Calabro were present. We presented the space and began plans for the space, ensuring that the library adapts to the people’s needs, and not vice versa.
As early as the following morning, students and workers from Amantea went to the library to prepare their exams and work independently. That afternoon, the screening room became the home of La Grotta Dei Piccoli ( The Children’s Cave ), hosting workshops and festival dedicated to the little ones.
With the Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea, we aim to offer our community a chance for redemption, against inertia and neglect, and to build active citizenship with social gatherings, stimulating cultural events, and daily opportunities to express their identity.
With increasing donations from the community, who is more and more appreciating and understanding the importance of an open and free cultural space such as the Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea.
