Multicultural libraries in a bordered world: the case of ECHO for Refugees

Abstract

This paper examines the practice of multiculturalism by a mobile library servicing refugee camps and marginalised communities in and around the Athens area, placing this practice into dialogue with the IFLA/UNESCO 2008 ‘Manifesto for Multicultural Libraries’. This paper interrogates the realities of ‘multiculturalism’ in a bordered world of inequalities and restricted movement through the prism of the (im)mobility of the library and its communities, concluding that successful multicultural practice in such a context requires awareness of and tangible action to tackle these inequalities.