Community Libraries of Latin America

The School of Mediators of the District Network of Public Libraries of Bogotá —BIBLORED—, of Colombia, once again led a beautiful meeting between the librarians of this fellow country and our Executive Advisor Alfredo Mires Ortiz, to talk about libraries, networks, community. Here we review some of the main ideas of the conversation.

- Librarians of Latin America

For this important axis, Alfredo recalled some elements that unite us as Latin American peoples, also "to emphasize that there is more that brings us together than what separates us. Latin America can boast of having a marvelous common root; a fantastic diverse landscape guided by the Andes mountains; a reckless story with the same despotism and similar rebellions; and a utopia to which we are still galloping.” That is, we have a common and latent source, the color of the soul is the same and therefore we bond through nature that gives us life.

He recalled the words of the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez who masterfully summarized the uniqueness of our peoples. Gabo in a Proclamation entitled "For a country within the reach of children", which was read in the Palace of Nariño in 1996, said that even before the arrival of the invaders, our people: "Did not have a notion of State, nor political unity among them, but they had discovered the political prodigy of living as equals in differences”, and that –a few years later–, “mixing was already an irrepressible demographic force. The thousands of African slaves, brought by force for the barbarous work of mines and farms, had brought a third dignity to the Creole broth, with new rituals of imagination and nostalgia.”

- Networking

Alfredo emphasized that the meaning of the Quechua word suq is one, but at the same time it means another, therefore, we are the others, I am the other, we are community. We work as a network because that is how we are, or rather, that is how we should be. He added that: “If reading is a way of threading with the world, by threading we know better what we read for, why we are in this task. When we talk about network it is about a common thread, it is about knots, it is about different colors and textures, but it is the same yarn. A Network is a diverse and plural search for meaning, the path and the objective. But this would not be possible without a sense of gratitude and gratuity. That is why we are volunteers: we do not fall into the logic of benefits, which is basically the same logic as that of torture ... There is a clear cause that drives us and there is an aspiration that is already waiting for us.”

“We work as a network so that the humble steps that we undertake are a certainty and also a hope; so that the life of the defenseless does not continue to be a disgrace.” The meaning of being a network is that “we are together, we know that we are near, joined, connected, protected and close”, and this is a responsibility, a formidable concern.”

He also stressed that in order to constitute a network it is essential to have a conception, to know which are the flags that command us; in addition to considering consensus, trust, independence, the willingness of the collective to "maintain the underground river" and always have the courage to read the context.

- A librarian who reads roots

He stressed that "the librarian is not a file manager, but one who takes on the challenge of reading and reading himself in these roots, in these landscapes, these stories and these utopias." "We are librarians also to take shelter and to be awed, to unmask and unmask ourselves."

- Libralances: libraries as ambulances

"Today, getting to read and being librarians puts us in trouble: it is one of those emergencies that requires all "libralances", that is, that all libraries rush like ambulances."

- Libraries that sow desire and freedom

“In the case of libraries, it is a question then - as when the fields are cultivated - of sowing the desire to get to know books and with the freedom to read them; to fertilize the desire to reveal them and the urge to share them; to reap the impetus to enjoy them and the dazzling of understanding them.”

- The oldest book: the earth

“The oldest book of all is the earth, where the movements of time and wind, the song of the trees, the words of the stars and the water are written. Where the paths of rain and seeds are written, the voices of birds and peoples, untamed mountains and cultivated lands. Reading the land, walking it, exploring it and getting to know it is the best way to love it and learn to respect it.”