Outdoor library opens in German Colony park

At least 100 people attended the library’s opening on Sunday.

By JASON SHALTIEL
JERUSALEM MAYOR Nir Barkat and local children stand in front of the new library Sunday, June 14 (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
JERUSALEM MAYOR Nir Barkat and local children stand in front of the new library Sunday, June 14
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Tahanat Cria, an outdoor lending library, opened on Sunday in Jan Smuts Garden, a small park in the capital’s German Colony neighborhood.
Tahanat Cria, which translates as reading station, is built on an old bus stop. The unmanned library can accommodate more than 100 books.
Users can donate and borrow books whenever they like.
Local resident Tamar Weiss, a fiction writer, came up with the idea for the library. She approached the Ginot Ha’lr community council with the proposal after seeing a similar project by residents of 9 Ma’agalei Yavne Street, just to the south of the German Colony.
“I just had this idea and I was fortunate to find many excellent partners,” Weiss said.
At least 100 people attended the library’s opening on Sunday. Parents and children sat on the park lawn reading books withdrawn from the shelves.
Noah Salman, 48, read a book on the neighborhood to his children. “I want to tell them the story about the buildings here,” he said. “They pass them every day and they don’t know the story.”
Mayor Nir Barkat read to a group of children. “What I love about it is that it’s the residents that came up with the initiative,” Barkat said. “I wish to see more of these initiatives all around the city and we will help the residents make this happen.”