Leila - The Library of Objects

Description

Leila, The Library of Objects is an association rooted in the lively Bolognina neighborhood of Bologna, which promotes the culture of sharing and reuse among residents and tourists.

 

Leila Bologna was founded in 2016 as a cultural association and social promotion with the idea of being a tool for economic savings and environmental protection through the culture of sharing. 
Leila is a place that hosts objects that can be borrowed, so you don't have to buy them. To date, Leila has about 250 members and a board of five young people who invest their time, energy and creativity in the project. What really keeps Leila going, however, are the members who every day pass by Via Luigi Serra, where the association has set up a real library of objects, and not only use the loan service but also create continuous links and exchanges of practices and knowledge. 
Leila has three main objectives that characterize its operation and philosophy. These three objectives are the pillars on which we base our activities and which we promote every day. 
1. Create culture and sociality: one of Leila's first objectives was to encourage the exercise of trust. In fact, the association acts to make everyone reflect on the idea of possession, in the hope that it will be given less importance, in favor of a framework of thought based on use. This helps to give the right value to objects and relationships, as well as contributing to foster "good neighborliness". 
2. Economic savings: Sharing makes sure that every object is used to its full potential. A drill, for example, is on average used for only 7 minutes compared to its possibilities. Thanks to the object library service, we avoid buying a product that would remain unused most of the time. It is a concrete tool that helps to make targeted purchases and at the same time offers the possibility to try an object that maybe you intend to buy. 
3. Environmental protection: thanks to sharing, Leila ensures that you only buy what you really need, thus helping to reduce the amount of waste to be disposed of and thus lowering the ecological footprint of each of us. 
Why are we doing this? Because Leila wants to try to rethink the way we live, today, a world marked by consumption, purchase, waste. Leila is addressed to those who believe that there can be a new way to approach consumerism, to those who believe that, after all, the world is made of ties and that only thanks to these ties we can cope with everyday difficulties. Leila believes in trust, in sharing and in the change that can result from all this.