They drag at the bottom of a wardrobe, sleep on dusty shelves, piled up in boxes. What if these books became emancipation levers for thousands of people? A nationwide initiative comes back to shake consciences and awaken sleeping libraries.
From Saturday April 19, 2025 and until Sunday, May 11, France activates once again around a simple but essential word: books. This new edition of the very large collection of books, initiated by Libraries Sans Frontières (BSF) and Fnac, invites citizens to bring their works to life By depositing them in more than 400 partner collection points across the country. A major solidarity operation, in a context where inequalities of access to culture are constantly widening.
Read to resist: books as a social bulwark
Statistics are as sharp as it is despairing: two thirds of low -income families have no book at home. And a child without access to books has 30% of chance in less to acquire the basic skills, according to an OECD-UNICEF report of 2021. So why still hesitate to transform a pile of novels forgotten into peaceful weapons against the reproduction of inequalities? This is exactly what Patrick Weil, founding president of the Association Libraries Sans Frontières (BSF) insists: “ Read to grow, emancipate, put yourself in the place of the other, create, dream. […] Your donation as part of this operation will greatly contribute ».
Since its creation in 2007, Libraries Sans Frontières has been working on access to reading, education and information in more than 30 countries, including France. With its innovative tools, multilingual content and mediation devices, the NGO deploys its actions as close as possible to marginalized audiences. And this collection is not a media masquerade: each year, more than 800,000 pounds are collected, sorted and redistributed to serve concrete causes.
A large -scale collection, at the initiative of Fnac
Since 2013, Fnac has been carrying this project with BSF which, in twelve editions, has already made it possible to redistribute nearly two million pounds. A commitment that is part of its CSR strategy. Xavier Vercelletto, CSR director of Fnac Darty, does not chew his words: ” This collection of books, the most important in France, is an essential solidarity operation for the most fragile populations ».
The group goes further this year, with Darty, Nature & Découvertes, Cultura, Homebox, SNCF – Gares & Connexions and the Bon Marché Rive Gauche who join the adventure. About twenty microbibliarasses from the BSF-Fondation Cultura program also participate to enrich their own funds or redistribute works in the poorest areas.
What happens to the books given?
These are not simple piles of paper. The books collected experience a logistical and social metamorphosis. Returned to the BSF warehouse in the Paris region, they are sorted, cataloged and directed to very targeted uses: creation or strengthening of rural microbibiliothècès, emergency libraries, endowment of books of books to refugee children, or even the constitution of first personal libraries for students of priority areas. The books sought? Novels, comics, children’s literature, beautiful books or documentaries, in all languages. Too specialized works (textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias) are dismissed.
And as each initiative needs a face, Riad Sattouf, recognized author and director, this year takes on the role of ambassador, alongside journalist Augustin Trapenard, godfather of BSF since 2018.
