PARK LIBRARIES

The Rio de Janeiro Bibliotecas Parque library network, with venues in the City Center, Manguinhos, Rocinha and Niterói neighborhoods, was originally conceived by the State Culture Secretariat to offer public access to a collection of more than 260,000 fiction and non-fiction books, art books, comics and children’s literature and around 20,000 films.

IDG was in charge of managing all units between 2014 and 2016, helping to further expand the network’s reach and welcome new audiences to the libraries via a series of new activities, thus consolidating the Bibliotecas Parque libraries’ identity as spaces for integration, social inclusion, cultural experience and the preservation of memory.

During almost three years of operation, over two million users attended the libraries, enjoying access to books, videos and lectures. IDG expanded the program with debates, plays and equipped the spaces with studios and training courses, attracting an audience of approximately 4,000 visitors/day from all social classes and localities, ranging from doctoral students to people living on the streets, students and local shop-owners from the Sahara neighborhood.

More than 78,000 users were registered, and more than 230,000 books borrowed, making for a multiplicity of moving stories of transformation.