The Europe Challenge

Challenge team: Biblioteca “Luigi Einaudi” Dogliani, Cooperativa Caracol and the young people of Dogliani

Population of Dogliani: 4,572

Summary: Through this initiative in Piedmont, Italy, young people are being invited to spend a ‘Night in the Library’ to encourage them to get involved in the future of the library.

In the small town of Dogliani in rural Piedmont, in the north west of Italy, there are not many opportunities for young people. The Luigi Einaudi library has traditionally offered community services aimed at older people and the library has been losing its younger patrons.

Working with its community partner for youth engagement, Cooperative Caracol, the library is reaching out to local teenagers to encourage them to co-design activities for themselves at the library – creating a space for debate and mutual understanding in the town.

To launch the initiative, the challenge team is organising a unique event for teenagers: “A Night in the Library” – an opportunity for young people to spend a night in the library, from sunset to dawn,  surrounded by 20,000 books and taking part in cultural and social activities.

After this engaging and emotional event, the aim is to create a board of teenagers in order to involve them in the development of a communication strategy for the promotion of the library among their peers and young people. Teenagers will be invited to co-design a communications strategy for the Instagram profile of the library and to co-create activities to be offered to peers as part of the library’s future cultural programme.

The challenge team said: “We would like to offer to the teenagers concrete opportunities for the development of their sense of belonging to the area, empowering them and therefore promoting a wider wellbeing for all the community of Dogliani.”

Local solutions to change Europe