The Role of the National Library, then and now (Part 1)

On September 9, the National Library celebrated another milestone in service to the nation through literacy. This noble institution opened its door to the public on September 9, 1909. The 106th anniversary of the library coincides with Education Month and International Literacy Day. Education Month was celebrated by the Ministry of Education and its partners with activities like a Reading Tent on the Main Street Avenue, country wide book fairs, ‘Give a Book Day’, and ‘Drop everything and Read’ at 11 hours, among others. The bottom line is to encourage more reading by placing books within easy reach, breaking down barriers to comprehension skills, and acquiring the tools for expression skills.
The National Library has impacted positively on thousands of lives; here are some samples of ‘What the library has meant to me’ taken from The National Library Centenary Magazine.
1 can recall the beginning of the Public Free Library in 1909. The announcement that the Government had accepted the offer of funds by the Andrew Carnegie Corporation to provide a Library for readers, who would not be asked to pay a subscription of any kind, seemed to be the sort of fairy tale which we had never had before.
The first Librarian, Miss Emily Murray, was a strict disciplinarian, and insisted on decorous behaviour in and around the library, and a strict adherence to the rules of the Library. (Sara Veecock)
I was remarkably lucky to be accepted as a borrower in March 1917, six months under the age limit. This was due to the kindness of Miss Moore, one of the Library assistants who knew me well and the strong advocacy of one of my guarantors, the Late Rev. John Dingwall. So it was that my career began, through the medium of books learning to live, think and analyse.
Ironically enough, one of my first subjects for analysis and criticism was the very same Library through which I was destined to benefit so greatly. Why? I pondered, why erect an iron grill which not only encaged the beauty of the written word but also ruthlessly shut those of us who were filled with urgent desire to enter these wondrous gardens of the Hesperides. (E. R. Burrowes, M.B.E.)
The Reference Department was open at night until 8 o’clock. Miss Moore and I worked in shifts during the day, and every other night in the Reference Library.
We were not supposed to speak, but naturally if we could help a borrower we did. I don’t know what Miss Murray would have said had she caught us.
Though everything was so very strict, and our Librarian such a martinet, I loved my work among the books and the eleven years I spent there were very happy ones. (Mrs. Annie Jackson)
One day I went to the Library and borrowed “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman. … I went to the mound at the top of Camp Street on the sea wall and sat in the crotch of a tree and I read Walt Whitman. I read him in great sweeps, devouring the poems, turning the pages continuously, almost relentless, following the long lines of the poems, fascinated by the powerful, plain imagery, being acted upon the vigour of the poet’s mind and the daring scope of his imagination, subjecting myself to what I realize now was the democratic nature of his verse. This was a man talking and I felt that the book was one poem of himself and his vision of America and the world.
I finished the book that same day after reading for two or three hours, with the sun shifting across the tall, enormous Guiana sky, and the wind blowing eternally from the North East over the Atlantic. When I finished and closed the book, I was dazed with the surfeit of images I had assimilated. But I knew that this was an experience, part of my education into the wonder of another man’s mind and his vision of the universe. (A. J. Seymour.)
Libraries are palaces for the poor, rich markets for the hungry, oases for the thirsty, parliaments for the unfree, playing fields for the mind, temples for the persecuted.
Libraries are symbols for much that is best in mankind as it slowly reaches upwards to civilisation and wisdom. They stand for quiet study, knowledge, honest entertainment, scholarly research, private improvement, freedom of thought, independent opinion. No educational system — however well equipped with school buildings and laboratories; however well staffed — can be complete without its network of libraries open to the general body of citizens throughout the land. Especially for the children of the poor — living perhaps in cramped, ill-lit, noise-torn quarters — the public library is an essential haven of peace and learning to supplement the schools which these children attend. The well-libraried land is a literate and learned land. A nation, particularly a new nation, does well to build, promote and nurture its free and public libraries. (Ian McDonald)
Whenever I happen to pass by the Central Library on Main Street, on a Saturday morning, as the younger children are leaving after having made use of the Juvenile Section, I feel very happy. The look on their faces — a mixture of wonder and pleasurable anticipation — indicates their satisfaction at having enjoyed the Story Hour perhaps, or at having procured an interesting book. This is a most encouraging feature in the library service — the children are looking for books from which they can learn something which may be of use to them in their schoolwork, or in showing them how to help themselves in their ordinary lives. They are not just looking for a book that is amusing or diverting, although they can find these if they want. And this picture is repeated at almost every service point of the library, from New Amsterdam to the Rupununi. (Lucille Campbell)
(to be continued)
Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com
What’s happening:
? The Guyana Annual Magazine 2014-2015 issue in now available at Guyenterprise Ltd., Lance Gibbs and Irving Streets, Tel # 226-9874, the National Library, Austin’s Book Service and from yours truly.

 
by Petamber Persaud