Portugal Telecom turns its phone booth into community mini-library

Lisbon, Portugal, 30-4-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — Do you like reading? So the next time you pass by Praça de Londres in Lisbon, go to PT’s old phone booth, take a book and give it back when finished reading.

At first sight this is another old PT phone booth. But when we come closer, instead of a phone, what we see inside are dozens of books. Thus is born a new and creative reading space in Lisbon, on the basis of an emblematic symbol of Portugal Telecom.

Take, donate, read, return is the motto displayed in this old phone booth that once restored, turned into a community mini-library. Its goal is to foster the taste for reading, but also strengthen community ties, exercise citizenship and share books of people who live in the neighborhood.

 In this mini- library there are no deadlines for return. There is a system based on trust and on citizenship. The books made available have a marker with the goals of the project, to remind users of the origin of the book and the responsibility to maintain this original space through returns and exchanges.
The cultural initiative, which has the patronage of the PT Foundation, is an initiative of the Movement of Traders of Guerra Junqueiro Av., Londres Sq. and Roma Av. as a way to invigorate and revitalize street trading and the public space.

Graça Rebocho, Director of Corporate Citizenship and Inclusion, PT Foundation, points out that there is already a PT phone booth, which was transformed into Portugal’s smallest library and installed in Barcelinhos. Eight others were assigned to a project with the Graduate School of Design of Caldas da Rainha and were recycled by students and converted into minibars, mini-museums and mini-hotels.

The inauguration of the PT phone booth turned into community mini-library coincided with the World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April, and was attended by writers Isabel Alçada and Ana Maria Magalhães.

So now you know. If you pass by Londres Sq., go to the PT phone booth, take a book and when finished reading, return it.

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