Exchange day in Rural Libraries

Although the Rural Libraries have been known to me since their beginnings, it was only on the 16th of April of this year that I had the opportunity to observe and participate in the closing of an assembly of the central team of libraries and librarians from various parts of Cajamarca.

The 16th of April was also the commemoration of six months since the death of Alfredo, founder with John Medcalf of this work that transcends the borders of Cajamarca and Peru.

At the close of the assembly, the Main Hall of the Rural Libraries was suddenly transformed into a library with hundreds of books, perfectly arranged according to themes. There were books for all the interests of the librarians, who know what their communities want and need: health, fertilisers, animal husbandry, Peruvian and world literature, religion and many other subjects. On the podium, on multicoloured cloths, were the greatest treasure of the Rural Libraries: the books that contain the rescue of countless cultural elements of the rural world of Cajamarca. Each volume was painstakingly and conscientiously worked on by Alfredo, the librarians, the elders of the communities and the welcome contribution of all those who had something to offer. This Peasant Library is a compendium of rural wisdom with subjects ranging from cave paintings to ancestral stories that have been passed down orally from generation to generation. I know of no other entity that with such meticulousness and commitment has rescued the many facets of knowledge of the rural world.

Once the assembly was over and the library was assembled, it was time for the exchange. Each librarian could choose as many books as they wished to take to their community, after returning the ones they had taken the previous time. However, very few books are returned, not because of mistreatment or loss, but because the books are already part of the communities, they become a source of reference, in their own history, culture and cosmovision and they want to have them close by, in the home of the librarian to whom they can turn to at any time.

There were cardboard boxes available because there were librarians who took away thirty to forty books. They were mostly looking for books on health, on crops, on history, religion and even literature. One librarian was eagerly looking for the works of Father Michael Garnett and I was able to help him find three of his works.

Between sorting, filling out the sheets where they list the books they carry and their code, and packing, it easily took about two hours. In all that time, Rita, Rumi, Karina, Lola, and the volunteers of the Network were at the librarians' disposal, helping them to find what they needed, suggesting, recommending. The books on the stand, i.e. the publications of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, were taken with full hands.

Everyone, without exception, took away the last three books that Alfredo left ready for publication: "Ser comuneros", "Piedras vivas, pueblos vivos" and "Pedro Urdemales en Cajamarca". They had been presented a few days before in a beautiful ceremony that was a tribute to Alfredo's capacity to work until his last moments.

The exchange action ended with a minga: more than fifteen in a chain returned the books to the warehouse, others cleaned, others folded the banners and collected posters.

A beautiful experience of how the interest in knowledge, with the vehicle of books, is taking root in our rural Cajamarcan world. And all in an atmosphere of warm fraternity.

Monica Buse