The National Library needs to be revamped

Aug 16, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Public libraries are places of enlightenment. Not so in Guyana.
Public libraries have been neglected. More attention has been paid to the physical buildings and to the construction of lecture rooms at the old Carnegie Building than has been paid to the actual collection of books.
Students still line up for the services of the library. But they do so mainly to use the free internet that is available and which they need to do their research. No one is lining up to join the library or to read books. That is great pity.
The Minister of Education is about to have a Commission of Inquiry into the education system, which has been described as being in a state of crisis. But the National Library in Georgetown has long passed the stage of crisis.
The Minister should act. He should establish a task force to address the decades-long neglect of public libraries.
The National Library is in need of brightening-up, but not with paint. It needs brightening with books with fresh covers, not the old dingy ones that waste away on its shelves.
Most of the books within the library should be retired. Some of them are older than some of the Ministers in the government.
The library sorely needs to have books that were recently published and books on more topical concerns. Not many people are going to borrow those books that are presently on the shelves of the National Library.
The National Library is a dull, boring and depressing place. It needs to be alive and kicking, because education is in crisis. Reading is in crisis, and this is why students are not doing well in English. If students do not read they cannot write well.
You need books to capture the attention of our young people. These books have to compete with other media which are more attractive to the youths. It is big task, but one that has to be done if the educational crisis is to end.
People need to once again discover the pleasures of reading. There is no better place to encourage this than though public libraries.
Of course electronic books are becoming extremely cheap, but the price is still outside of the reach of ordinary Guyanese and from the manner in which salaries are increasing, they are likely to be out of the price range of most Guyanese for some time to come.
The National Library once had excellent collections. But that is no more, since many of those who borrowed these books did not return them and so the collections are now depleted.
Improving the collections at the National Library need not cost a great deal of money. There are many Guyanese who have books that they will willingly donate to the National Library.
There are Guyanese overseas who would be willing to be part of a book-collection exercise. But nobody is asking them to assist.
You will find many persons who will be willing to donate books. When someone buys a physical book and reads it, they normally put it away on a shelf. Not many persons read a book more than once. Not many books are read by the same person more than once. There are persons that will have books recently published that they will be willing to donate to the National Library.
One thing should be made clear: old books are not welcome. Only books published over the last three years should be entertained.
Much money will not be needed to acquire books. But money will be needed for other things, such as paying staff better. Somebody should make a start.

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The National Library needs to be revamped

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