Cuban Libraries Support Group

Appendix 2

National Literacy Museum

The Museo de la Alfabetizacion, which is housed in a school complex called Ciudad Libertad at the former Cuartel Columbia military airfield in Havana, describes the 1961 literacy campaign

The greatest successes of the revolution have been in the fields of education and public health. Prior to the revolution a quarter of adult Cubans were illiterate and another million were semi literate. Ten thousand teachers were unemployed and 70% of the rural population had no schools. After 1959 all private schools were nationalised and education became free and universal. Former military garrisons were turned into schools.

In 1961 all schools were closed for eight months and some 250,000 students and teachers were sent to rural areas to teach reading and writing, resulting in Cuba's high literacy rate. This campaign brought tens of thousands of city youth into contact with the country people, breaking down racial barriers and instilling revolutionary spirit. The early literacy campaigns were followed up with continuing education programs to ensure that nearly every adult attained a sixth grade level. Today education up to the ninth grade is compulsory.

National Library

Biblioteca Nacional Jose Marti

Avenida de La Independencia

Plaza de La Revolucion

Havana

This 18 floor building, which includes a national children's library, is open to the public Monday to Saturday from 8 - 5.45.

In the aftermath of the Spanish American War, American General Leonard Wood served as governor of Cuba. He was responsible for reforming the educational system, and issued a military order to create the Cuban National Library in October 1901. The library occupied a number of homes over the years and in 1957, it moved to its present location on the Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana, funded by a sugar tax. The building was projected to accomodate 40 to 50 years growth, but was filled rapidly in the early years after the 1959 Revolution.

The National Library falls under the auspices of the Cuban Ministry of Culture. The current Director, Dr Eliades Acosta, was appointed in 1997. There has been some recent reorganisation, and the Library is now divided into six basic divisions : economic management, public services, promotions / development, public libraries, technical processes including automation and research.

As of September 1999, three distinct levels of service were identified and prioritised for the National Library to maximise access to the collections : professional researchers, professionals, and students.

The library contains three million holdings spanning six centuries. There is a circulating collection of 75,000 titles that has its own card catalogue. Items are loaned for 15 days and there is a two item limit. Holdings include 26,000 maps, over 200,000 photographs, and over 11,000 posters that were integral to communicating with the people during and immediately after the Revolution.

Inter Library Loans are available, and a union card catalogue is maintained of journal holdings throughout the country. The rare books collection contains over 2,000 items from the 15th to 17th centuries, including priceless world class treasures, such as hand-drawn Spanish navigator's maps from the 15th century.

The library has 375 staff and is being further automated. In addition to the 39 PCs used by staff, public access computers are being installed. The systems staff are moving forward with Web development, and the Library has a site available at http://binanet.lib.cult.cu. BINANET is the libraries' network used to communicate between the provincial public libraries and the National Library. Internet access is available. Email is a norm and the preferred method of communication, and most people at the Library had access to it.

The National Library is looking for collaborative efforts with sister libraries. The acquisition librarian is actively seeking journal exchanges, and book donations are very much appreciated. Reference books, bilingual dictionaries, and recent scientific and technical works in English or Spanish are always in demand.

Public Libraries

The network of public libraries in the country falls under the jurisdiction of one of the National Library's divisions and is further divided into 13 provincial libraries, and below, municipal and branch libraries employing over 3,600 librarians, technicians and other personnel.

According to UNESCO, Cuba enjoys the highest literacy rate in the hemisphere. After the Revolutuion in 1959, a concerted effort was made by the government to improve the literacy rate and maintain it. Public libraries play an important part in that effort and are expected to maintain programmes and activities to promote literacy in the society.

Biblioteca Provincial Ruben Martinez Villena

Plaza de Armas

La Habana Vieja

Havana

This modern public library, built with the help of the Spanish government in 1998, is open weekdays from 8.30-6. It has adult lending and reference collections, a children's library and games room and a delightful garden. The library has over 85,000 volumes, including a special braille collection.

Biblioteca Provincial Jose Marti

Parque Vidal

Santa Clara

Villa Clara

The Biblioteca Provincial Jose Marti, on the east side of Parque Vidal, is a nice place to take refuge when its raining. The library, and an art gallery, are in the neoclassical Palacio Provincial, built between 1902 and 1912. The building was a garrison during the Batista period. I also visited Santa Clara's best bookstore, Libreria Viet Nam.

Biblioteca Provincial Ruben Martinez Villena

Parque Serafin Sanchez

Sancti Spiritus

Housed in a two storey neo-classical building, this library serves a population of 80,000, in the historical heartland of central Cuba. Much of the province is a lowland dedicated to the cultivation of sugar cane or the raising of cattle.

Biblioteca Provincial Roberto Rivas Fragas

Calle Serafin Sanchez

Plaza Camilo Cienfuegos

Ciego de Avila

This library was being used as a polling station on the day on which I visited. 7,913,000 Cubans - 98% of those eligible to vote - went to the polls on Sunday, April 23, to elect their municipal and provincial government representatives. In this election 13,853 delegates were elected from various neighbourhoods and electoral districts to the Municipal Assemblies of Popular Power, the highest authority at this level and which in turn elects the Provincial Assemblies and approves or rejects the candidates for National Assembly deputies.

The photographs and biographies of the more than 31,000 candidates (the only permitted form of publicity in Cuban elections) were exhibited for almost a month prior to the ballot in public places - including the library - within each neighbourhood or locality. Each of these candidates was nominated and approved in public meetings, free and open to every local resident. Nevertheless, a second round of voting was announced for the following weekend in the 833 constituencies where none of the candidates obtained the necessary majority.

Approximately 50% of those chosen this time were reelected in their posts as delegates. More than half a million people, none of whom received payment of any sort, participated in the various organisational structures of these elections and more than 300,000 children and young people helped to guard the ballot boxes throughout the length and breadth of the island.

Biblioteca Provincial Julio A Mella

Parque Agramonte

Camaguey

This two storey building, on the west side of Parque Agramont, is next to the Assemblea Municipal del Poder Popular (Municipal Assembly of People's Power). The library serves a population of 300,000 in Cuba's third largest city. The University de Camaguey, founded in 1975, is one of Cuba's five universities.

Biblioteca Provincial Jose Marti

Vicente Garcia No 4

Francisco Vega y Francisco Varona

Las Tunas

This single storey building, opposite the Parque Vicente Garcia, serves the city of Victoria de Las Tunas, which has a population of 120,000. Las Tunas, where the first "independent library" was opened in 1998, is the centre of the Independent Library Project.

Biblioteca Provincial Alex Urquiola

Maceo 178e

Frexes y Marti

Holguin

This two storey library, on the west side of Parque Calixto Garcia, has a very pleasant modern reading room.

Biblioteca Municipal

Banes

This small municipal library serves a population of 35,000 in the sugar town of Banes which was founded in 1887. I also visited a bookshop in Banes with a good selection of titles in Spanish and English.

Biblioteca Independiente Juana Alonso, Havana

Rogelio Travieso Perez, Havana

Bibioteca Nacional Jose Marti, Havana

Biblioteca Provincial Ruben Martinez Villena, Havana

Biblioteca Provincial Jose Marti, Santa Clara

Biblioteca Provincial Ruben Martinez Villena, Sancti Spiritus

Biblioteca Provincial Roberto Rivas Fragas, Ciego de Avila

Biblioteca Provincial Julio A Mella, Camaguey

Biblioteca Provincial Jose Marti, Las Tunas

Biblioteca Provincial Alex Urquiola, Holguin

Biblioteca Municipal, Banes

Museo Nacional de la Campana de Alfabetizacion, Havana

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For more information about the Cuban Libraries Support Group, contact John Pateman at John.Pateman@merton.gov.uk

John Pateman is a member of the Society of Chief Librarians and has visited Cuban libraries in 1993, 1995, 1999 and 2000.

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