One recurring observation when writing our activity report is that years go by (and are never the same), but at CIRA, they are always busy. Being there during opening hours, cataloguing new arrivals, dealing with the inventory of our archives, responding to email requests, organizing public events, welcoming conscentious objectors and trainees, collective organization, administrative follow-up, and long-term projects… we cannot claim that defending the right to be lazy is the cause we advocate most effectively

Collections

In addition to the books, brochures, and periodicals regularly sent to us by their publishers, authors and friends of CIRA (thank you!), our collections have been enriched this year by several significant additions.

We recovered some books that had been “weeded out” by the CENAC (Centre pour l’action non-violente) library in La Chaux-de-Fonds, as well as a batch of German and English books donated by the Lotte Bibliothek in Lucerne, which was winding up its activities. We also received a large collection of brochures, periodicals and posters from Greece covering the years 1990 to 2010. These are gradually being added to the catalogue with the invaluable help of the donor and a Greek-speaking proofreader. Finally, we have inherited the collections of the Jargon Libre library in Paris, a “place of archives, study and conspiracy” (as its sign proudly proclaims), which was previously run by Hellyette Bess. While we were unable to accept all the documents held there due to their wide range, our collections have been supplemented by rich collections of books, pamphlets and periodicals, as well as a substantial archive. The volumes involved are considerable, and the sorting and cataloguing work is still in its early stages. We will provide more details in a future Bulletin.

In total, 329 titles were catalogued and added to our shelves in 2024 across all categories. It should be noted that we have created a new call number due to the first document catalogued in Urdu. At the same time, we are continually looking for ways to improve our cataloguing system, balancing the semi-professional use of it to meet the standards of the “library industry”, while also allowing for a more intuitive, albeit sometimes ad hoc, approach (which, it must be said, is often more comprehensive than these standards actually require).

Several archives were processed, reconditioned or described in greater detail last year, including Louis Mercier, Eduardo Colombo, Claude Guillon’s Suicide, mode d’emploi (see the article on page 27), and the Association des Ami·es d’Henri Roorda. The inventories of these various collections can be viewed on our website under “Archives, documentation and collections”. Among the archives, we have a rather special collection known as “boxes by country” or “archives by country”. This collection comprises all items that are not books, brochures, periodicals or posters. This includes flyers, leaflets, press cuttings, ephemera and documents that fall outside our acquisition policy but are of interest. As their name suggests, these documents are classified by country of production (with a few thematic exceptions, such as “May 68” or “prison”). While the documents are organized, they have not yet been inventoried or filed. For this reason, they have not yet been included in the catalogue. We have started working on the inventory of the “Swiss boxes”, which will serve as a basis for establishing procedures for the other country-specific archives. This is a project that has only just begun.

Thanks to the help of a skilled conscentious objector and the installation of a small DIY photographic studio on site, a large number of posters were also digitized in 2024.We continued our collaboration with archivesautonomies.org, a website that rigorously digitizes and makes many periodicals available online, including some from our collections. We also took the opportunity to ask them to scan the entire Bulletin, all issues of which are now available on our website under the Publications tab. At the suggestion of one of the team members, we also started thinking about how to store digital documents on our servers. This issue has been a hot topic for a while now, especially when it comes to the need to create a system for managing these documents, which come in all shapes and sizes.

Visits, requests and subscriptions

Although most requests for information or access to documents are sent to us by email, CIRA is visited every week by activists, researchers, students, curious individuals, artists, genealogists and neighbors. We have also hosted several group visits, presenting our organization and collections to students from Yverdon’s gymnasium, a group of teachers in training, an evening class, and around twenty art students from Geneva.

With 237 subscribers, the library was able to run smoothly in 2024. Donations also help with this. Thank you for your support!

Either in person or by e-mail, last year, we received requests about Lucien Barbedette, Marco Camenisch, Ernest Cœurderoy, Sol Ferrer, Luigi Galleani, Margarethe Hardegger, Charles Hochhauser Armony, Lecœur alias Adon Lacroix, André Léo, Bart de Ligt, Anna Mahé, anarchism in Belgium before 1914, Henri Roorda’s mathematics textbooks, anti-civilisation anarchists in Cuba at the beginning of the 20 th century, the 1907 Yverdon cigar strike, the links between Man Ray and Ferrer pedagogy, revolutionary violence in Spanish anarchism, educational models in Spain from 1936 to 1939, a CNT congress in Paris in 1945, fanzine covers in the 1960s and 1980s, Contratom and anti-nuclear struggles in Geneva, the Rote Zora, clandestine abortions in Switzerland and France, homosexuality, non-monogamy and anarchism in Latin America, the Anarchist Archive Project, the “knights of Bakunin’s tomb”, the Biblioteca Archivo Internacional Anarquista de Montevideo (1950-66), the relationship between astronomy and anarchism… Of course, we sometimes confessed our ignorance, gave people the runaround, or referred them to other institutions or individuals, but we also often learned a great deal by talking to them and trying to find answers.

The spanish Libertarians Project members spent some time at CIRA, which gave them the opportunity to produce a beautiful video showcasing the library. Thank you! You can now watch it on our website

Activities

In terms of public events, in 2024 we hosted presentations by Vivien Garcia on artificial intelligence, Anatole Lucet on Gustav Landauer, Éditions du bout de la ville by a member of their collective, Lorrain Voisard on his book Au cœur de la bête, Frédéric Antonini on libertarian economics Taha Naji on the Ferrer School in Lausanne, and a collaborative translation workshop organized by Roxane Bovet, “Translating the impossible”.

Our semi-permanent delegates in the Balkans travelled far and wide once again, taking part in the Balkan Anarchist Bookfair, which was held in Pristina, Kosovo this year (this provided an opportunity to finalize the Serbo-Croatian translation of CIRA’s presentation flyer). They also attended the Zagrebački anarhistički sajam knjiga (Zagreb Anarchist Book Fair) and then went on to present CIRA and talk about archives at the Infoshop in Ljubljana. One of the team members visited the Feria del Libro Anarquista in Uruguay, bringing back documents and visiting several FAU (Federación Anarquista Uruguaya) sites. Two other CIRA delegates attended the IALHI (International Association of Labour History Institutions) meeting in Paris, which focused on the conservation of militant objects (see the relevant article on page 17). We also maintained contact with the Italian-speaking RebAl network (Rete delle Biblioteche Anarchiche e Libertarie) by participating in an online meeting. At a more local level, we were invited to Les Dissidentes activist festival, where we contributed by selecting and preparing reproductions of posters from our collections. These were then copied in large numbers and made available to the public in the “affichokiosque”. 

Despite librarians’ and archivists’ tendency to spend their time in front of books, documents and computers, activities also take place in the garden — and all the better for it! In 2024, a three-day bamboo dig was carried out to clear the garden of evergreens. The lime and pear trees were pruned, a new high-stemmed apple tree was planted, and the new shredder was put to good use.

Projects

Several projects came to fruition in 2024. Our book Refuser de parvenir, initially published in 2016, was republished in pocket format with an updated, abridged version. This was done in co-publishing with Nada, as part of the “Petite bibliothèque anarchiste” collection, which welcomed Marianne’s Petite histoire de l’anarchisme last year. We also republished Nicolas Walter’s Pour l’anarchisme, a 1969 text which had been the first booklet published by CIRA.

In the ongoing process of addressing the issue of IT maintenance, which is essential for the proper functioning of our servers, website (and consequently our online catalogue) and day-to-day operations, we have begun migrating to a new hosting service. This approach aims to maintain a certain level of efficiency while also seeking to strike a balance by collaborating with companies that are a little closer to our principles.

Other projects have not necessarily come to fruition yet, but they have occupied a large part of our time in 2024. As a quick reminder, the CIRA team has been considering the possibility of extending the premises since 2020 (see the architectural competition in Bulletin 76). Following the City of Lausanne’s departments’ refusal to consider expansion projects, two avenues were chosen. We have taken advantage of the current revision of the General Allocation Plan to contact the relevant department regarding the building restriction in the condominium garden. If this restriction were to be lifted in the long term, it would be possible to build a “CIRAbis” on the plot. However, as this is only hypothetical, in 2024, our attention was focused more on the project to renovate and insulate the roof of the Beaumont house. This renovation is necessary for the proper upkeep of the building and would enable the library to store some of its collections in the attic. The tedious administrative procedures to obtain planning permission are underway, but we can already confirm that a participatory worksite is planned. This is a nod to the construction of the CIRA just over thirty years ago, as well as a cost-reduction measure. In the meantime, we are continuing our tireless search for space on the premises and adding bookcases and shelves salvaged here and there throughout the year. A major project also requires funding, which is another area that we have been focusing on in 2024. This reflection has also prompted us to consider the need for a provisional budget while continuing with the administrative setup of collective ownership (PPE). This new reality has necessitated certain accounting adjustments.

Team

The team currently comprises around a dozen people. Some are present every week during the “opening hours”, while others “specialize” in certain tasks and work remotely. The team also benefits from the support of a wider network of people who can provide additional help on an ad hoc basis or for tasks requiring specific skills. Particular thanks go to Lorrain for garden maintenance, Caryl and Marion for the archives, Maxime and Paul for last-minute take over of the daily shift, Larissa for postcards, Alma for cataloguing Greek material and Mattia for cataloguing Serbo-Croatian material. We also received help from conscentious objectors: Victor catalogued and processed the Colombo archive ; Maxime (a different one) catalogued periodicals and digital documents; Nelson worked on the Marc Vuilleumier library in Geneva ; Théophile photographed posters and objects in our collection; and Jean did a lot of DIY, as well as tidying up, sewing curtains, and making tabs for the periodical boxes. We also welcomed two interns: Benjamin, a high school student who worked on our bio-bibliographic file ; and Killian, a HEIG student who took an interest in ephemera.

The CIRA Board was expanded to include four new members and took the opportunity to establish a new cadence of regular meetings.

These meetings focused primarily on the roof renovation project, while maintaining an interest in issues related to the development of the collections and acquisitions policy.

2024 was also a year of celebration, reminding us that it’s the longterm commitment and the many bonds forged and maintained that enable CIRA’s continued existence. Happy birthday, Marianne !

Alain, Alf, Ariane, Ariane B.,Chri, Daniel, Émilie, François,Gab, Giuseppe, Marianne,Mayk, Nadir, Spac et Tho.