In the heart of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, an extraordinary story of quiet dedication and community spirit is unfolding. It began in the most unlikely of places — among the piles of discarded waste that line the city’s streets. A group of sanitation workers, going about their daily routines, began to notice a troubling trend. Perfectly good books, spanning every genre and age group, were being thrown into the trash. Rather than allow these books to be lost forever, they made a simple yet powerful decision: to rescue them.
At first, their mission was personal and modest. They salvaged books to share with their own families and children, giving these forgotten volumes a second life. However, it quickly became clear that the number of books being discarded far exceeded their personal needs. Day after day, the collection grew — first by the dozens, then by the hundreds. What began as a quiet act of preservation turned into a movement of cultural revival.
With their collection expanding rapidly, the workers came up with a bold idea. Instead of letting the rescued books sit unused, why not share them with the entire community? They envisioned a place where everyone — from children to adults, students to retirees — could access the knowledge, imagination, and joy stored within these pages. With support from local authorities and the community, they transformed an abandoned brick factory into a fully functional public library.Today, that once-forgotten building houses over six thousand books. The library features a diverse range of titles, including world literature classics, science textbooks, biographies, children’s stories, and even graphic novels. It has become a vibrant cultural hub where people of all ages come to read, learn, and connect. Visitors are often surprised to discover that almost every book on the shelves was once destined for a landfill.
But the initiative did not stop there. Understanding that many communities in and around Ankara still lacked access to books, the sanitation workers decided to take their mission mobile. They converted an old garbage truck into a mobile library, bringing free books to underserved schools and remote neighborhoods. This repurposed vehicle now travels regularly, acting as a beacon of education and inspiration for children who may otherwise have limited access to reading materials.
