They grew in Quebec a little over ten years ago like pretty weeds, full of colors and leaves to share. The Croque-livres, or microlibraries, have spread wildly, in tills, sometimes too close to each other. Today, these wild libraries look bad. Windows fallen out, doors that no longer latch, shelves empty or barely stocked with three-year-old magazines, guides to Italy priced in lire, third-rate books. Microlibraries are fading. For what ?
Let’s stop at Ruelle des Tournesols, green trip in 2014, in Villeray. “Our Croque-livres are falling piece by piece,” says a resident caught in theft. It’s a bit sad. »
“We’re pretty much all intellectuals here. We were good at understanding municipal programs and coming together to create a green alley. But maintaining the equipment in the alley or the Croque-livres is something else. I don’t know what to do with a screwdriver. And the City does not offer monitoring or maintenance services. » Even paid.
Are our microlibraries fading? Yes, confirms Amélie Lemieux, professor of literature teaching at the University of Montreal. She was the one who set up the McGill University sharing library network in 2014-2015. These book boxes were still rare in Montreal; we heard about it from the United States, where the Little Free Library movement was formed.
In 2014, a turning point: the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation launched its Croque-livres initiative here, which aims to offer “as a priority [aux] children aged 0 to 12 years” “free access to books and reading”.
For a little more than $200 at the time, today for $378 and $45 delivery, it is possible to buy his Croque-livres ready to assemble. Or download the plans to do it yourself from A to Z.
It’s proliferation. From 2015 to 2018, the Foundation has more than 400 Croque-livres ordered per year. Not to mention the other small libraries, built by hand. On the Croque-livres side, big slowdown in 2019, with 287, followed by a pandemic drop in 2020, where only 135 Croque-livres found breeding ground. The momentum has since been lost.
The Foundation is proud to affirm that today, there are 2,976 Croque-livres in Quebec. This figure is approximate, since microlibraries are the sole responsibility of the organization ordering them.
“Some may no longer be in service and still appear on the map [du site des Croque-livres]. » Others, like the one at the Hélène-Boullé school, look much better in the photo on the site than in real life, where a protruding nail awaits the wrists of children in too much of a hurry. “Certain active Croque-livres,” continues the Foundation, “may not appear on the map because their owners do not wish to register them. »
Cannibalizing books
The Foundation does not provide advice or maintenance or repair services. No more than suggestions on how to recycle or throw away a Croque-livres that is no longer in good condition. She is delighted to see more and more of them appear, their perpetual growth. Without worrying about their condition, without trying to find out if they fulfill their functions.
“There have been fewer orders for Montreal in recent years for the benefit of the regions,” explains Geneviève Doray, of the Foundation. Could there have been saturation in Montreal? In some areas, there are up to five microlibraries on two city blocks. Do Croque-livres cannibalize each other when they get too close?
“Of course,” replies Amélie Lemieux. As with all businesses or services. Like when you end up with three pharmacies or four cafes in your neighborhood,” the importance becomes diluted.
Especially since there are limits to the books that can be donated in a neighborhood. Once the novelty effect has worn off, once personal libraries have been properly cleaned, and the books to be donated have already been donated, how can we ensure a renewal of stocks?
In addition, “the Croque-livres were designed for children, young readers,” continues Mme Lemieux, who read a lot and whose reading level evolves quickly. These children are growing up. “And the content of small libraries doesn’t necessarily scale. »
Winters are hard for Croque-livres
“For a community project of this kind to work, you need a clear and continuous intention, which goes beyond the philanthropic intention of sharing,” adds Amélie Lemieux. “If the intention dissipates over time, if no one is responsible – and it can be a group that is – it becomes diluted…”
At McGill, the idea was clear. “There was a need: for students, race packs and the textbooks are extremely expensive, and they are recycled at the end of each session. » The woman who was then studying educational sciences and who was interested in social justice saw this as an opportunity to combine theory and practice.
McGill has installed a library in each building. In a busy place – in front of the cafeteria, for example – to stimulate the circulation of books. Indoors, to avoid harsh winters. “You should not underestimate the weather in this type of project. I think this is an element that has been largely forgotten here. »
The opposite of the digital book
The magic of microlibraries is their materiality, says the professor and researcher. They could be the exact opposite of the digital, dematerialized book, which is found by a precise search or by the calculations of algorithms which know the reader’s habits.
The small library attracts readers through its container — when it is repainted, colorful, functional, attractive. And by its content. It’s a little kingdom of discovery – if the content is rich enough… -, of the unexpected book which seems to appear almost by magic.
This is also how we know if a microlibrary is dead: when its container and its contents no longer fulfill their functions, thinks Mme The best. When the doors remain open during snowfall. When the shelves are empty for weeks. When borrowed books never come back.
“It’s like a plant,” illustrates the teacher. A plant that grows better, even if it is wild, when you water it and weed the soil. “It’s really a question of responsibility. » A responsibility to take up again, perhaps to change hands, with the help of a pot of paint, books to share. While also agreeing, perhaps, to prune the dead libraries that no one, neither individual nor group, wants to take care of anymore.