READING PROMOTION
Promoting a love of reading is one of the primary goals of the programs we organize. Our activities include weekly storytelling sessions, class receptions, an intensive program during National Reading Week, and monthly book club meetings in Arabic and French. In addition, writers and authors are regularly invited to discuss their latest work or to be recognized for their accomplishments.
CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
The municipal public libraries of Beirut organize weekly cultural activities that are open to everyone and free of charge.
In cooperation with local partner institutions and experts, we organize a variety of programs including monthly screenings of Lebanese movies, often in the presence of film directors; musical evenings featuring traditional Arab musicians as well as music from other parts of the world; debates and meetings with authors; concerts; roundtables; etc.
PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACT AGAINST XENOPHOBIA: RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES THROUGHOUT LEBANON
This program, supported by GIZ, aims to tackle the social cohesion challenges present in Lebanon by enhancing public libraries as inclusive spaces and fostering a sense of appreciation for diversity. Public libraries in Lebanon are meeting spaces for the different communities. They welcome all population groups to utilize the space and promote mutual understanding and respect. This project will further improve librarians’ facilitation skills in inclusive cultural programming, upgrade resources available for promoting social cohesion and tolerance and carry out a range of activities (class receptions, open days, and creative writing workshops) in public spaces for all age groups (children, youth and adults).
WORKING WITH MARGINALIZED CHILDREN
The Kotobus regularly reach out to students from public and semi-private schools, as well as community centers and non-formal educational centers in Palestinian camps and other marginalized communities. The goal of our activities is to spark a love of reading in students and raise awareness about different topics and problems in society (gender, the environment, children’s rights, etc.). ASSABIL librarians and animators facilitate activities through engaging methods such as storytelling, educational games, puppet shows, etc. In 2019, our class reception program focused on tolerance, gender equality, and children rights. ASSABIL also provides students with the opportunity to meet authors and illustrators.
ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY
One way that ASSABIL encourages community participation is to organize activities that are of particular interest on to the public such as the semi-annual Horsh Beirut Festival that includes creative workshops for young people (photography, drama therapy, drum circles, creative writing, film making, art from recycled materials, murals, rap, etc.).
In 2019, we launched a volunteering program at the Beirut Municipal Libraries funded by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung. This program provides training on active citizenship, non-violent communication, library management, digital content design, and writing scenarios for comic books.
ASSABIL also trained 20 community members who were then tasked to take the information they had learned and use it to implement changes in the Bachoura, Geitawi, and Monnot neighborhoods. This initiative was funded by Secours Catholique.
BEIRUT’S PUBLIC LIBRARIES OFFER DISTANCE LEARNING SUPPORT
This program “Beirut’s Public Libraries Offer Distance Learning Support”, supported by Secours Catholique-Caritas France, is a 1-year pilot project to assist teachers, parents and students of Beirut in adapting to distance learning through pertinent activities and services in Bachoura, Monnot and Geitawi libraries. This project will address the challenges detailed above through four components: psycho-social support, digital campaign, providing materials and resources and upgrading library infrastructure.
