Sundays in the library...

With this project, the Minden municipal library and the Bad Oeynhausen public library invited residents to experience the library as a cultural place of encounter on Sundays. Both municipalities have adopted the successful concept of the American Commemorative Library in Berlin as a model for their own project. In Berlin, the library is open as a community meeting place on Sundays and offers a diverse array of cultural formats and educational programmes. For their project, the organisers tested whether this approach can be applied to a rural area and strengthen intermunicipal collaboration in the cultural region of Minden-Lübbecke.

Both libraries established a participation process to learn what residents wish for and expect from a library if it were open on Sunday. Based on these results, the organisers teamed up with artists and cultural producers, the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Association for Adult Education and other civic organisations which are interested in offering new or tried-and-tested workshops and events in the rooms of the library. The goal was to create an open and inspirational atmosphere where visitors can participate in cultural activities and discover books, periodicals and assorted media. The experience gained from this pilot project will help libraries determine to what extent they can enrich the cultural life of their region also on Sundays.

Partners: Minden Association for Adult Education, Bad Oeynhausen public library and others