Saturday,
21 June 2014, the first library opened in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, where
you can borrow authentic artefacts, between 5000 - 200 years old and excavated in
the city Vlaardingen, instead of books! “Thanks to the archaeo-library people
can now tell a tale about the history of Vlaardingen in their own living room,
on the basis of an authentic artefact”, city archaeologist Eli van Toledo
explained in an interview. She was asked whether the conservators didn’t protest
vehemently against this idea, but refused to take the bait. However, she did
state that it was also a step in the
dark for the archaeologists, and that this will be a short-lived experiment if
the borrowers don’t take good care of the artefacts.
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| One of the two display cases with artefacts that are up for loan. Copyright: Omroepvlaardingen.nl |
The project is a joint undertaking between the Vlaardingse cultuur- en educatiecentrum KADE40 and the archaeological depot of the city Vlaardingen. Its intended objective is to share archaeological artefacts with the public. Both organic as well as inorganic objects, such as a conserved bone ice skate, an inkwell, faience pottery and a 5000 year old flint axe, are on loan. Members of the archaeo-library are allowed to keep an artefact for up to 6 months. As some of the artefacts are fragile, they have to give evidence of their creditworthiness and sign a contract if they damage ‘their artefact’. However, becoming a member and borrowing artefacts is free...
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| One of the two display cases with artefacts that are up for loan. Copyright: Omroepvlaardingen.nl |
