In our society, more and more existing products are given a second life. A trend which turns out to be a necessity, but which can certainly also be an enrichment. Veldeke Kring Maastricht came up with a creative way to use surplus books in an alternative way. By not disposing of them as old paper, beautiful book stools were created which found a very appropriate place: Veldeke donated the set of 10 pieces to the Maastricht University Library.

Social goals

Veldeke Kring Maastricht united two social goals for its plans: the makers of this initiative work for Talent Zorgbureau. Veldeke Kring thus supports the mission of this agency for solution-oriented care. Recently the book stools have been placed in the public space of an international educational institution: the Maastricht University Inner City Library. Students spend a lot of time in our library and with such a stool, they can easily join a fellow student to work together.

QR code

The processed books are largely in the Maastricht dialect. Therefore, the origin will not be immediately clear to all of our international students. That is why the stools will be fitted with a QR code in three languages – the Maastricht dialect, Dutch and English – to tell the user something about its history.

Appreciation for this initiative

The University Library did not want to let this beautiful gesture go unnoticed. A meeting was held for invited guests on 22 October in which we expressed our appreciation for this collaboration. We also offered Veldeke Kring Maastricht a stage to explain more about the books used and to show images of the making process of the stools.

Check out some photos of the making process:

Author: UM Library

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