Greece allocates 63.8 million U.S. dollars to expand school library network

The country’s education and economy ministries have approved a nationwide initiative to expand and modernize Greece’s school library network through new libraries, upgraded facilities, additional staff, and expanded book collections. 

The project, “Ίδρυση, Ενίσχυση και Εμπλουτισμός Σχολικών Βιβλιοθηκών” (“Establishment, Strengthening and Enrichment of School Libraries”), has a total budget of 63.8 million U.S. dollars and will be funded through the Human Resources and Social Cohesion program under Greece’s 2021–2027 National Strategic Reference Framework. The ministries announced the decision on Sept. 10. The initiative aims to strengthen reading culture and give students more regular access to literary books at school.

Of the 252 new libraries, 25 will be established in preschools, the first organized school libraries of this kind in Greece’s preschool education system, while 227 will open in primary and secondary schools. The new libraries will receive books and other materials, furniture, computers, and collection-management software.

The project will also upgrade 400 existing school libraries with new materials and computer equipment. Around 400 additional libraries will receive new computers, bringing the total number of new or upgraded school libraries to more than 1,000.

More than 8,000 schools will receive reading collections. Preschools will receive collections of 50 titles, while primary and secondary schools will receive up to 100 titles. The program covers schools that responded to a nationwide survey conducted by the Education Ministry to map school library needs.

The 400 librarians will be employed on fixed-term contracts, with each responsible for supporting up to three school libraries. In the first phase, librarians will be assigned to schools that already have libraries, based on factors such as student numbers, the distribution of libraries across education districts, the status of existing libraries, and the size of their collections.

The investment also includes a national digital network for school libraries. Collection-management software will be introduced, local school library networks will be established, and a national union catalogue of school library holdings will be created. The network is also set to connect digitally with the National Library of Greece and the country’s public libraries.

The September decision gives more concrete form to a school library strategy announced in October 2025, when the Education Ministry outlined around 60 million euros in planned funding for the initiative. A nationwide needs assessment cited at the time received responses from 8,986 of Greece’s 12,665 active schools. Of those responding, 58% had a library, while 39.7% did not have one but wanted to establish one.

The survey also highlighted staffing and infrastructure gaps. Teachers were responsible for 97.27% of existing school libraries, and only 19 of those teachers held a degree or postgraduate qualification in library science. Forty-nine percent of school libraries did not use an information system to manage their collections, while 48% had no computer.

As reported earlier, limited access to functioning public libraries was considered a major weakness of the country’s reading infrastructure. Greece had around 40 state libraries and just over 100 municipal libraries based on 2022 data, while publishers said many collections had not been regularly replenished. Publishers interviewed by Chytomo called for libraries to become “incubators of readers.”

Access to books has also been linked to reading habits in Greece. An OSDEL study found that respondents who had more books at home, including in their childhood libraries, tended to record higher reading indexes later in life. The study concluded that inequalities in reading can contribute to wider social and cultural inequalities. Greece designated 2026 as the Year of Reading Culture, or DiavaZOUME (“We Read/Live”), with a particular focus on children, adolescents, and younger readers.

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