On Sunday, August 5, we visited the library opening of Ryukoku University's Yodo Honmachi Shopping Street Fureai Library Project.

In this project, students of the Inoue seminar of the Faculty of Policy Studies, Ryukoku University, have been conducting on-site surveys since FY29 with the aim of revitalizing shopping streets that are losing their vitality due to a decrease in customer attraction and diluting local communities. Perhaps because bookstores in the shopping district were closed, we learned that there was a high need for libraries in the Yodo area, and we have been preparing for the opening of libraries at vacant stores in the shopping street.

It was a grand opening with a performance by the brass band club of the local Oyodo Junior High School. In addition to displaying books donated by students and local residents, the library also has a bookmark-making corner and a café space, which can be used as a place for interaction among local people. On this day, people from the local area who were provided with books also stopped by and looked inside with great interest and conversed with the students.

Since this is their first attempt, students visit the nearest children's hall or elementary school, distribute leaflets, and conduct public relations activities through trial and error.
In the future, in addition to the monthly library, they are planning to develop joint products with people in the shopping district and publish free papers. I hope that you will steadily move forward step by step so that the charms of the Yodo area can be conveyed to people inside and outside the region!