3The Renewed Library Challenge

In Fawzooz’s small village there was an old library full of books, but few visitors. Uncle Saleh remembers people crowding at its door when he was a boy. Fawzooz wanted the library to become, once again, a place people come to for creativity and knowledge.

So he used the “InnovaForge” model to reinvent the library and bring it closer to the hearts of young and old alike.

“A library is renewed when we ask people what they need.”

Stage one. Ignition

Fawzooz gathered the villagers to hear what they would love to find in the library, and they gave their ideas in their own words. The little girl asked for a corner with colourful cushions, the young man suggested that people borrow books from their phones, and the mother wished for workshops and readings every week.

Stage two. Casting

Fawzooz took the strongest ideas and made simple prototypes from them: a new reading corner for children, and borrowing from the phone. Then he tried them out in the library for a week, watching how people used them.

Stage three. Tempering

Then the feedback came in. The young man complained that borrowing took five steps, so Fawzooz cut it down to two. In this way he reworked the prototypes one after another, and every change made them more useful to people.

Stage four. Shaping

Next Fawzooz added his finishing touches, making sure every change served what the village wanted: for people to read and to learn. He launched new programmes and weekly gatherings that drew in young and old.

Stage five. Polishing

Finally he began counting the visitors and the books borrowed, month after month, and the numbers kept growing. And he didn’t stop there: he kept improving the library, turning its successes and lessons into the start of new projects.

This is how Fawzooz and his village turned a plain place into a lively home of culture, and learned that a library is renewed when we ask people what they need.