The social project called “Livros nas Praças” [translation: “Books in Squares”], sponsored by Valid in the city of Rio de Janeiro, was a success right out of the blocks. In April alone, 1,500 people visited the “library on wheels.”
The project consists of a bus adapted to be a traveling library, with a collection of around 2,000 books, to be loaned out for free to members of ten needy communities in Rio de Janeiro that don’t have libraries of their own.
The bus also functions as a reading space in the community, offering book loans (upon registration made onsite) and promotional activities to encourage reading, along with parallel cultural activities such as dramatic reading literary theater, and storytelling.
The artistic and literary activities are held biweekly, in order to visit all the communities included in the program:
• Cidade de Deus – Praça Daniel
• Complexo da Maré – Vila Olímpica da Maré
• Praça Corumbá – Botafogo
• Praça Miranda Ribeiro – Madureira
• Praça Saiqui – Vila Valqueire
• Praça Ex. Combatente – São Gonçalo
• Vila Olímpica de Santa Cruz – Santa Cruz
• Praça Rio Grande do Norte – Engenho de Dentro
With the aim of serving the greatest number of people possible and to encourage reading in the communities, the project visits schools, daycares, NGOs, and community associations to invite people to participate in the project’s activities.
