An audit of local public libraries last year discovered books that were decades out of date, including junior science texts written before man went to the moon.
And a total of 33,000 books were found that had either not been put on the shelves or were not up to scratch.
This was the picture of “chaos” and “crisis management” that national librarian Oliver Mamo was confronted with after he took over the running of public libraries in 2012.
“There seemed to be no coordination, and since the weeding out of obsolete material was not being conducted professionally, many shelves were found replete with books decades past their best.
“In some places, such as Naxxar, Gżira and Żabbar, we found junior science books available for circulation dating before man’s ascent to the moon.”
Many libraries were cluttered with books stashed away haphazardly
He said the previous administration did not keep a record of uncatalogued books and many libraries were found “cluttered with books stashed away haphazardly, deterring patronage because of the negative visual impact”.
Mr Mamo was asked for his comments yesterday after the National Book Council said there were about 10,000 books that still needed to be catalogued. It admitted that if there were no new titles on the shelves to attract people to public libraries, they would readily turn to other forms of leisure.
When he was appointed Malta Libraries’ CEO in 2012, Mr Mamo started taking stock of the situation and then instructed one of his principals to audit all 42 public libraries and identify the unprocessed books.
As the audit progressed he accounted for more than 12,000 books still waiting to be processed.
More than 8,300 of them have now been taken to the Central Public Library and 3,500 are being processed at Birkirkara for the Qormi, Luqa and Birkirkara regional libraries.
Among the books found through the audit, about 200 unprocessed boxes had been awaiting selection at the Attard library for eight years.
“It also transpired that the last inspection and stock audit in Siġġiewi had been done way back in February 2001. A whole 13 years and a half...”
Meanwhile, the Birżebbuġa library was found in a “tragic state”.
“I am very proud to say that in all we retrieved an estimated 13,116 books as a result of this audit,” said Mr Mamo.
More than 20,000 more books were not up to standard [such as being outdated or beyond repair], so the backlog was actually of more than 33,000, “not around 10,000 as was indicated presumably by the National Book Council”, Mr Mamo said.
He said he had inherited a chaotic situation, with poor employee capacity building, and it was only through the maximisation of resources and the recruitment of diligent employees that he was facing future challenges “with determination”.
“All this previous mismanagement, the overall book fatigue and the changes in Maltese society to which libraries did not adapt to, have led to a decrease in book loans.”
A major effort to replace old books with new ones in 13 libraries is now under way.
Public lending rights
Remunerating authors every time a book they pen is loaned from a public library is the first step towards giving serious recognition to literature, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo told a roomful of authors yesterday.
“Thank God we had crazy enough authors and publishers who make personal sacrifices to issue books.
“We not only have a small market, but also a population that is not keen on reading,” he said, before the first public lending rights funds were distributed.
A total of €5,000 were distributed among 55 authors for more than 13,500 loans, working out at some 37c for each loan. Trevor Zahra was the most popular author, registering 5,128 loans.
“Through this scheme, we want to support writers and create a climate where authors value their work more, National Book Council chairman Mark Camilleri said.
Mr Bartolo said that just as singers were remunerated when they sang, writers should be treated with the same dignity.
He added he was in talks with publishers to determine the best way to help them promote their books.