The imposing silence of a reading room, disturbed only by the careful turning of pages or the caress of a pencil writing down a sentence, is perhaps one of the sweetest combinations for the human ear. Entering a library for the first time, especially when one is still a child, feels like walking into a sacred precinct.
That feeling is not so far from reality. The Library of Alexandria, the most famous library in history, was located inside a temple dedicated to the Muses. It was the building itself, in its own right, a sanctuary of wisdom and learning, which only allowed entry to a privileged few.
In Cuba, books are also kept in places of worship, but with free access for all. The country has a vast network of libraries: school, specialized, university and public libraries. Decree-Law No. 271 of June 22, 2010 is the legal document that articulates the work of these centers. It describes public libraries as institutions designed for the population of a community, financed with public funds and whose purpose is to facilitate "through technical means and adequate personnel, the use of documents for cultural, research, educational or recreational purposes."
The same document defines free access to information, as a fundamental principle of these institutions as well as the responsibility to serve "with its funds and available means, free of charge, to any natural or legal person without exception, based on the principles that sustain its activity."
The National System of Public Libraries responds to one of the principles defended from the beginning by our national project: the democratization of knowledge. That is these centers keep invaluable materials: classics of universal and Cuban literature, serial publications, discontinued publications, scientific studies on the most diverse topics; all of them within the reach of the population.
MULTIPLIED KNOWLEDGE
Cuba has a total of 369 public libraries: 13 provincial, 155 municipal and 201 branches in urban and rural areas of difficult access. All of them operate in a similar way. The municipal centers have a free registration system, where anyone can register to borrow or consult documents.
Registration is mandatory to be able to loan a book out of the library. However, registration is not necessary if one wishes to consult the book in the library, although a record is kept of all visitors who come and the books they examine.
These institutions are fundamental links in the promotion of reading, sometimes from a very early age. The Ramón González Coro Provincial Library in Pinar del Río, for example, organizes an activity called La Bebeteca, aimed at children under five years of age.
Local libraries usually have activities that aim to take books to the communities, encouraging an interest in reading. These projects reach schools, hospitals, maternity homes, senior citizen centers and neighborhoods in transformation. According to the directors of the centers consulted for this research, the audiences that show most interest are the elderly and children.
This type of center is usually closely linked to the socio-cultural development of the community where it is located. Such is the case of the Máximo Gómez Municipal Library in Old Havana. In addition to literary services, this library hosts several projects aimed at the cultural and spiritual growth and enrichment of the locality.
Provincial libraries fulfill a different role. In addition to their usual functions, they are methodological centers that provide services to the entire network of public libraries in their respective territories.
According to Carmen Diego Fonseca and Nicolasa Breijo, directors of the provincial libraries of Camagüey and Pinar del Río, respectively, the most sought-after volumes are classics, recreational literature, detective stories and biographies.
Unlike the rest of the public libraries, the José Martí National Library of Cuba (BNCJM) charges a fee to be a registered user. The BNCJM is the main institution of its kind in the country, which houses most of our documentary heritage.
For students, it is three pesos, valid for one year; for professionals, six pesos, and ten pesos for researchers, in both cases valid for three years. However, any user, without being registered in the institution, can access all its services for free with a temporary pass.
LIBRARIES 2.0
The increased use of new information and communication technologies in Cuba challenged libraries to enter digital media and social networks, not only to promote their work, but also to facilitate consultations through these channels. A defining moment was the closure of all facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the creation of social profiles for most of the country's libraries.
The BNCJM is a leader in these practices. It has a catalog of bibliographic references, published in the institutional portal, receives reference requests by email and queries through social networks.
In the words of Omar Valiño, director of the BNCJM, "we have the challenge of growing in the face of the demands of the new times, fighting against our technological backwardness, which does not allow us to advance at the desired speed. Even if it is not in a direct way, in cultural life there is often the footprint of the library as an inexhaustible source that contributes to all."
As part of the digitization process, the center has strengthened the Media Library, where books, magazines, newspapers and various documents can be found in different digital formats. These files can not only be consulted in person in the library's dedicated area, but are regularly shared on the center's profiles for downloading.
It is the library's duty not only to treasure and care for everything it possesses, but also to enhance it in many ways. The depths of knowledge accumulated there cannot be erased or ignored by the existence of the Internet, Valiño emphasized.
Each component of Cuba's public library system continues with its foundational mission: to be a stronghold of culture and knowledge, while reinventing itself over and over again. These sites are spaces of fraternization between the past and the present, and of cultivation for the ideas of the future; a fertilizer for the sacred tree of knowledge. Perhaps some of these reasons inspired the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges when he said: "I always imagined that Paradise would be some kind of library.
