Empowering Communities Through Education: Launch of The Open Library Project in Monreale

The Open Library – Educational Reading Centers project, supported by the Fondazione con il Sud and the Center for books and reading through the third edition of the “Libraries and communities” call, officially began with the presentation conference which was held last 8 October 2024 at the municipal library of Monreale.

The project, lasting 24 months, sees the Proloco of Monreale as the leader and it involves, in addition to CEIPES, the following partners: the Municipalities of Palermo, Monreale, Corleone, Marineo, Piana degli Albanesi, Santa Cristina Gela and Ventimiglia di Sicilia, the University of Palermo (UNIPA), Illustramente, I Sicaliani and the Pax Popular Library of San Martino delle Scale.

The objective is to start virtuous and long-lasting processes that can continue to develop over time. Thanks to this initiative, libraries will become real focal points of aggregation, contributing to the cultural growth and active participation of citizens. During the event, in addition to learning about the details of the project, participants had the opportunity to visit the exhibition of illustrated books on the sea “Nautilus, a sea of stories and figures”, symbol of the educational power of reading.

The day ended with a laboratory for the drafting of the Alliance Pact, which marked the start of the work to achieve the results expected from the project.