Libraries in Colombia

On behalf of the Network of Rural Libraries of Cajamarca I was fortunate to be able to travel to Medellin, Colombia in June 2023. I wanted to find out more about the range of books, libraries and reading promotion that this country has to offer - and I was impressed!

In the central square of many small towns you can find small spaces, like little booths, which offer a book lending service. You can find books in public transport vehicles or small publications free of charge at book fairs. There are Book Festivals, where librarians offer their reading skills to young and old and even in some restaurants they lend or sell books. Reading and tintico - as Colombians call this exquisite coffee served in a small cup - are everywhere.

There are also libraries as such, large spaces with a great variety of books and a wide range of reading spaces. Some of these libraries belong to the "Cajas de Compensación", private entities created to improve the quality of life of workers and their families. These entities provide health, education, recreation, culture and other programmes designed to bring welfare to the population.

Because of my work with children with projectable capacities and the programme of Reading for Others of the Cajamarca Rural Library Network, I was particularly interested in visiting a 'bebeteca'. They took me to the Belén Library Park - and I am emphasizing "Park" because it is a really impressive space.

Baby libraries are - as you probably already guessed - libraries for babies. And, indeed, babies go there, from newborns to six years of age, always in the company of their parents. But expectant mothers also go there and it is not uncommon to see a librarian reading "to the belly" of a mother-to-be.

There are specific books for each age group, although it is often adults who read or borrow the children's books. And for each age group there are adapted reading promotion activities: lullabies, trips to space, explorers following in the footsteps of Moby Dick, poems written by children, handicrafts made by parents, rhymes, poems, stories, children's novels... everything you can imagine.

There are water mirrors, trees and vegetable gardens, small tables and chairs, but also hammocks, mattresses and cushions in the shape of dinosaurs or gigantic butterflies hanging from the ceiling. In the land of Gabriel García Márquez, the imagination has no limits and Macondo can be built in any corner.

Rita Mocker