The National Library of Peru invited our brother Alfredo Mires Ortiz to participate in a discussion, via the internet, entitled: The nearby library, close to the community, coordinated by Gonzalo Oyarzún and in the company of two other speakers from Guatemala and Portugal.
We highlight some essential elements that Alfredo referred to in his reflection:
- The temptation to circumscribe the gaze and our dedications to the area of our chapels. With this he was referring to the excess of importance that libraries can have as buildings, downplaying what is happening outside, which, for the Rural Libraries Network of Cajamarca, is found in the land and the rhythm of peasant life, "in our communities, as a people, as a nation, as a collective".
- He indicated: “the readers in the communities where we are are not users: they are our family, they are real and concrete friends and companions. They are not “target population” or “beneficiary population”.
- He said that "the mere mechanical transfer of foreign content disavows endogenous knowledge." He called for the recognition of our own culture. Because it is essential that “our libraries are inhabited by the knowledge of the whole world, but from everyone, and, especially, from us. If not, libraries are piously colonizing."
It is always enlightening to listen to Alfredo: thanks to him and to those who do not forget their important role in Peru and Latin America.
The video is available at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWPf7hlBHa0
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