ITINERANT LIBRARY

Lisbon's Itinerant Library is back!

In 1953, the writer Branquinho da Fonseca set up a mobile library in Cascais, consisting of a trailer pulled by his own car. From 1958, the Mobile Libraries of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation took books and reading all over the Portuguese mainland and islands. As Lisbon was not part of the Foundation's itinerary, the Lisbon City Council created its own Mobile/Itinerant Library Service in 1961.
After the old Garden Libraries of the 1930s, the municipality of Lisbon has had mobile libraries for books and reading since 1961.

Today we have an Itinerant Library, born out of this, in a different time and place from before, in a network of excellent permanent libraries spread throughout the city, as a response to the existing multiple cultures, covering all the parishes, with the exception of the parish of Santa Clara.

The redefinition of the Itinerant Library in 2022 was based on several factors: the pandemic context, which generated significant difficulties and uncertainties; the mission, vision, goals and values of the BLX network; the guidelines of Agenda 2030 – UN Sustainable Development Goals; the guidelines/manifesto of IFLA-UNESCO 2022; and the Porto Santo Charter.

We have redefined its strategic scope to better serve vulnerable populations in Lisbon, taking advantage of their mobility, a differentiating and complementary factor within the BLX network, and reaching out to specific communities to promote access to books and reading for all.
The parish of Santa Clara is located in the northern part of the municipality of Lisbon (PDM - UOPG 1), and includes areas such as Galinheiras, Ameixoeira, Charneca and part of Alta de Lisboa.
It is a developing parish where most of Lisbon's AUGI (Áreas Urbanas de Génese Ilegal/Urban Areas of Illegal Genesis) and BIP/ZIP (Bairros de Intervenção Prioritária/Zonas de Intervenção Prioritária/Neighbourhoods of Illegal Genesis) coexist.
This parish does not yet have a BLX Network library.

The Itinerant Library has prioritised this area as a BLX outreach service and is building this bespoke cultural response, engaging with local partners throughout the process. Above all, it is an exercise in collaborative citizenship around books and reading in a place with very little cultural offer. To this end, we are working in close partnership with Quinta Alegre, Lugar de Cultura, whose programme and facilities are unparalleled in the area.

It is a pilot project that the itinerant library would naturally like to be involved in, and one that could be replicated in other vulnerable areas if deemed appropriate.