Boxes full of books are in and next to a blue bucket Recycling in the center of Thessaloniki. The image of a passerby looking for something interesting in them, before they reach the nearest recyclable sorting center, again brings to the surface the question: What can the books be done so that they do not end up becoming a pulp?
At the same time, in the corridors of the Central Municipal Library of Thessaloniki, boxes overflowing with books await the scarce staff to process them and integrate them – if they meet the criteria – in its collections. If rejected, they may be given to the public through bazaars or will be sent to the Central Donation Service to equip other libraries or bodies.
The Central Municipal Library of Thessaloniki, It has collections of books of various thematic categories, Available to adults and children, older publications books (old and rare collection from 1498), foreign language collection, as well as newspaper archives (160 titles) and magazines (1,982 titles). In 2024 it enriched its collections with 2,308 new evidence, which it acquired from purchases and donations.
‘Library address receives book donations from bodies and individuals and the Department of Library Support and Binding, It is responsible for accepting them, subsequently processing and sending them to the libraries of our network, or by donating to third parties. In 2024 we accepted 2,161 donations of anonymous and 5,679 donations of brand names, “the Deputy Head of Library Department of Thessaloniki Paraskevi Paraskevi.
By what criteria do you donate books pass the library door?
The Municipal Library encourages donations, both in Central Library, as well as its 14 regional library network. However, as the logic behind donations must be the strengthening of libraries and not the clearance of personal warehouses, there are specific criteria that make up the donation regulation.
“We do not accept any dictionary or encyclopedia of any thematic or dated, as we already have full coverage. After all, after increasing the internet and search engines began to be removed Encyclopedias and many of them are obsolete. Imagine that some are absent from information such as Seferis or Elytis’s Nobel Prize in Literature, “Elsa Economidou, Sorting and Donations Officer, tells RES-EIA, and clarifies that such information material is not borrowed and processing, reading or use only within the library.
On the contrary, they are made Received Modern Literature Books of the last five to eight years, but also older classics, provided that they are in good condition and are not already in the collection. Books with underlines, notes or damage are rejected, as well as legally or very specialized scientific projects, proposed for donation to academic institutions.
The “thank you” of the municipality and the return to the readership
Every citizen who donates books, declares if he wishes thank you letter, while if it is a remarkable donation With more than 100 bodies, then an additional thank you from the mayor’s office is sent. “Last February we received a donation of more than 4,000 remarkable securities, and recently received another 1,100 books from a single offer,” explains Ms Economidou and describes the following procedure.
“After the donation is recorded, then we look for each book separately to find out if it is already in our libraries. In this case we register it as a copy. If not, the classification must first be preceded, “he says, referring to the descriptive and thematic cataloging of the automated system installed by the library.
Of course, Mrs Manakou stresses that Lack of librarians makes it difficult to execute responsibilities and affects the overall picture of the whole library network. “The successive retirements, the non -recruitment of specialized staff for thirty years, the licenses of existing employees have been inconsistent with inconsistency and discontinuity in the flow of the work of the Directorate and the purpose it serves,” he underlines.
Whatever books are not included in the collections, they are offered to the public through bazaars, and now, by the decision of the City Council, books are available on a regular basis at the entrance of the central library, so that citizens who pass through receive them for free. “We also keep books for donations to third parties, because we have applications from schools, cultural institutions, hospitals, and even KAPI, so we reinforce their existing libraries or stand in the way of creating new libraries,” Elsa Economidou adds.
The most widely trained books and the role of television
For the special relationships of readers With neighborhood libraries and books that “do not manage to stay on the shelf”, For her part, the Deputy Head of the Department of Regional Libraries of the Municipality of Thessaloniki Lena Papathanasiou speaks. “If a book makes 30 – 40 loans it usually deteriorates and replaced, if a donation is found,” he says, making it known that in the municipal regional libraries, books may also be made, which in 2024 exceeded 1.500. As he explains, this is mainly the case with the novels that become television series. “There are readers who read a very recent book and donate it immediately. These people never ask for a thank you as they are happy to come and see the new book that comes into the shelf the other time, ”he notes.
Expressing In fact, her personal view as a librarian, He emphasizes that donations give the solutions to the libraries to be included in the libraries. “We cannot exhaust the budget of the citizens to buy the goodies. The library must promote good literature and promote the quality reading criterion, “he says.
The glass pavilion turns into a spare library on the New Beach
The revelation that the glass pavilion of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, located in the sculptures garden in the New Beachin the coming months will be transformed into a spare library, Manakou made. “There, donations will play a very important role and the logic with the books that will apply will be ‘leave one, you get one’,” he says, saying it was an idea by Mayor Stelios Angeloudis.
The booth will be staffed by an employee and may also operate as a point of sale of the municipal publications (History Center, Vafopouleio Spiritual Center). Starting is expected in autumn.
The numbers ‘speak’
The living Library operation is also imprinted on numbers: In 2024, 1,550 new members were registered in the Thessaloniki Central Municipal Library of Thessaloniki and 65,166 citizens were served, with total lending of 103,316 books. In addition, 17,691 citizens were served by phone and sent 1,010 email.
Correspondingly, 262,238 loans and 125,926 visits were recorded in the 14 Regional Libraries of the Municipality, of which 1,202 were new members’ registrations. Numbers confirm that books continue to be life – as long as they do not end up in the bucket …