For Persian speakers far from home
What is Hamketab?
Hamketab is a public, nonprofit organization whose main goal is to give Persian speakers living abroad free access to physical Persian-language books. Hamketab members can borrow books, read them, and return them, or donate books to help the collection grow. Hamketab began in Turin, Italy, and will expand to other cities in the future.
Why Hamketab
The three foundations of this community library.
Mission
Hamketab’s goal is simple: free access to physical Persian-language books for Persian speakers living outside Iran.
Values
Free access, a focus on physical Persian-language books, transparency and open source, and mutual trust among members.
More cities
Hamketab’s central team and open-source infrastructure help local teams bring the project to more cities.
Guide
Frequently asked questions
Answers to common questions about Hamketab and borrowing books.
Yes. Hamketab is a public, volunteer-run project and is completely free for everyone.
Sign up or log in, find the book you want, submit a borrowing request, and receive a pickup code. You then have 7 working days to collect the book from the specified pickup location.
By default, each member can have 2 books either on loan or reserved. This limit can change based on the member’s history.
The estimated return date is calculated from the book’s page count. You can see it under Loans in My account.
Use the Donate books page. Register the titles you want to donate and receive a code, then take the books to the bookstore and show the code. If visiting the bookstore is difficult, contact us.
The biggest help is donating books and introducing Hamketab to your friends. Your criticism, suggestions, and feedback can also help Hamketab grow. Contact us if you would like to join the team.
Some books are not accepted into the Hamketab collection, including sacred religious texts and ideological propaganda published by or affiliated with governments.
Hamketab is currently active in Turin and will soon reach Milan. Our open-source infrastructure helps Hamketab launch in other cities too.
Contact us
Let’s stay in touch
You can reach us by Telegram or email.