The Savsko Naselje Community Centre will host the first Slovenian Library of Things (Knjižnica REČI) on 21 January 2015. The Library will lend out various stuff.

The Library is similar to the standard library with the exception of books and rather various useful objects – from sporting equipment, leisure time equipment, home appliances and tools for work around the house.

The rental system avoids the constant shopping for new things, which are then needed only occasionally. The Library saves money and space, as there is no storage space needed for a pile of things one uses only few times per year.

The Library is also green in its activity as it reduces consumption of natural resources – the concept of shared use reduces the need for mass production of things.

The ideas of a community, collaboration and shared use are essential in establishing a new library, and represent the foundations of weaving new ties in the Savsko Naselje and its surroundings.

The idea of the Library sprung into life in the spring of 2014, when the professionals of public space development from the ProstoRož association were trying to find appropriate content to revive the Community Centre in Savsko Naselje, along with the concept of use and shared creativity of the content to attract the residents of the neighbourhood. They were assisted by the Slovenia Coworking initiative with experience in the field of research and implementation of various perspectives of shared use (coworking, crowfunding, etc.). The Initiative joined forces with their goal of designing a culture of shared use on the level of working service with the principle of working from bottom to the top.

The “Knjižnica REČI” project was developed into a partnership with the Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region (RRA LUR) and its Regional Centre of Creative Economy (RCKE). The organisations provided financial resources to establish the Library, managed project coordination and collaborated in the content of the Library development process. The space for the “Knjižnica REČI” activity was provided by the City of Ljubljana to enable shared use and space adaptation at the Community Centre.