This week, the Alpes-Maritimes department highlighted the departmental media library and its role in providing access to culture. The institution also unveiled a renewed fleet of vehicles. This fleet will be used for tours, document delivery, and actions carried out across the territory. This presentation was an opportunity to explain the service’s mission and to illustrate the choices made over several years to strengthen public reading.
The departmental media library is hitting the road. A project that is part of a dynamic strengthened by the 2021-2025 departmental development plan for public reading. This framework allowed for infrastructure reinforcement. It also helped to renew collections, offer training sessions, and support more than 30 communities in renovating or adapting their cultural venues. This effort supported the establishment of new services and facilitated access to games, digital resources, and cultural mediation in numerous municipalities.
The departmental media library plays an important role in organizing public reading. It acts as a resource center for libraries in the territory. It manages a network of more than 80 structures and provides documents, equipment, and support to professional teams. Its action is part of a strategy for territorial balance. It aims to maintain constant access to culture in rural areas as well as urban ones.
This mission relies on a collection of about 250,000 documents, loaned to libraries and used during tours. The service also provides engineering support, training, and project assistance.
The department integrates these actions into its cultural development policy. The objective is simple: to offer every resident regular access to reading, discovery, and exchange tools. The hinterland villages and urban neighborhoods benefit from these services through regular tours and projects carried out with local teams.
A mobile cultural service at the heart of communities
At the end of the week, departmental officials, media library staff, and artist Haydรฉe Otero were present during the official presentation of the new fleet. This meeting explained the service’s operation and opened the vehicles to the invited public. It also emphasized the importance of public reading in the Department’s educational and cultural policies.
The new fleet groups several vehicles adapted to the missions of the departmental media library. The main change is the arrival of a bookmobile acquired with the support of the regional directorate of cultural affairs (DRAC). This vehicle, more compact and maneuverable, can reach villages that were difficult to access with the older models. It will ensure regular tours and better on-ground presence. The other vehicles were designed to facilitate the transport of documents, mediation materials, and supplies needed for off-site interventions.
All vehicles now feature new designs created by Haydรฉe Otero. This visual identity creates continuity between the media library’s actions and the movements across the territory. It reflects a commitment to presenting culture as a local, visible, and accessible service.
During the visit, the president of the Alpes-Maritimes department, Charles-Ange Ginรฉsy reiterated the principles guiding this public policy. He stated: “Access to culture is not a luxury, it is a right. And this right, the Department ensures everywhere, for everyone. Thanks to the remarkable work of the departmental media library, our villages as well as our cities benefit from a modern, mobile, and deeply human public cultural service. Our action in favor of public reading is also part of a strong ambition for education and youth: to accompany students, support teaching teams, inspire curiosity, and give each child the same opportunities to access knowledge and open-mindedness. A youth that reads is a youth that grows, understands, and becomes emancipated. By renewing this fleet of vehicles and closing this first public reading scheme, we affirm a deep conviction: culture must circulate, travel, connect, and continue to illuminate every territory of the Alpes-Maritimes.”
This announcement marks a new phase for the departmental media library. It confirms a commitment to cultural dissemination.
