This is an overview of the more recent history of European volunteer run libraries. In sharp contrast to what we saw over in North America throughout the 1800s-2000s, Europe has a general disdain for these volunteer run institutions. This is because they're being foisted on the public by the government and not stemming from a conscientious effort among communities. This hasn't always been the case though and we'll look at one or two exceptions. Let's look at some of the key libraries and events:
Francke Library, Halle Germany: August Francke developed a foundation to collect donated books in 1698. This collection expanded with donations from theologians and private collections. While the collections expanded the budget did not, with no budget the library had to be run on the charity of its volunteers. This library can still be visited in Germany today.
Entre-Deux-Guiers Library, France: The Entre-Deux-Guiers in France isn't a volunteer run library, but it is a municipal library that was built off its volunteers. Their site is in French so it took a bit of translating but in 1989 the library was founded and started in a small room filled with volunteers. The library started quietly and grew donations and collections over time quickly. The library still exists today.
If you would like to visit the French website click here.
Big Society Libraries
One of the most notable explosions of libraries in Europe are those that began appearing in Ireland and England starting in 2010. This was because of the "Big Society" concept that was launched as part of the Conservative Party Manifesto by David Cameron at that time. It was believed that it would spur social and community engagement as well as help charities provide services. Libraries were of course affected by this change. For example English libraries were merged under library authorities. So these authorities in towns were given the opportunity to vote whether they would like to make their library volunteer-run and over 400 libraries are now doing so in that country. Most authorities then control and manage several libraries at a time and a towns libraries are generally divided between community run and not community run.
If you would like a full breakdown of information on the Big Society affecting libraries and a list of all the libraries affected go here and here.
Below are a few examples of volunteer-run library authorities that were chosen for this concept:
Bexley Borough: Bexley borough has a total of twelve libraries, half of those are community run libraries affected by the Big Society movement. The volunteer-run libraries differ from the main libraries in a few ways. They are usually in smaller dwellings and run by non-profits, but they also generally have more amenities (cafes etc). These volunteer run libraries are the opposite of what we saw in North America though. While both the North American and Bexley libraries all begin their histories in the early 1800's or 1900's, Bexley libraries started all with staffers and didn't switch til governmental intervention.
If you want to go over all the Bexley libraries click here.
Buckinghamshire Libraries: According to publiclibrariesnews.com Buckinghamshire "has gone further down this route than any other authority and now has significantly less (nine) council-run libraries than it does volunteer-run libraries." There are over 30 libraries in the borough. Unlike Bexley most of these aren't run by non-profits, but are run by volunteers and sustained through volunteer donations. A large majority of the libraries sprang into life from the Big Society movement, but most transitioned to volunteer run in 2011. It's one of the only counties that are genuinely very happy with the movement.
If you want to go over all the Buckinghamshire libraries click here.