The new law being piloted in Parliament by Education Minister Dolores Cristina, setting up a new body to replace the present libraries administrative structure, brings back to the national agenda the importance of books within society.
Books may no longer be the main source of knowledge. Nor are they by any means the only source of entertainment or education. Yet, sentimental though it might sound, the book remains a representative cornerstone of the acquisition of wisdom, the stimulation of the imagination and the fostering of learning.
The need to help people understand how much books can contribute to their lives is a perennial necessity. An effort has been made in the past few years to shore up the libraries, the government finally increasing the budget to replace the old, tattered books that populated the shelves of lending libraries for too long, putting potential readers off.
Though membership of the central public library has gone up consistently in the last few years, thanks to the effort of dedicated members of staff of that same library, there is not much there to attract readers. It misses a pleasant, endearing environment. It lacks an agreeable reading room. A number of exhibitions on authors were held lately but activities based on reading and books that can act as a bridge to the library and its services are not organised. Worst of all, the lending library still does not enjoy a good location. It takes an effort even by the staunchest of readers to get to its present location, which is counterproductive to the national effort to entice more people to read.
However, not all is dark on this front. During the debate in Parliament of the libraries Bill, Mrs Cristina referred to research just carried out by the National Book Council, which found that 82 per cent of all Maltese are considered to fit the profile of readers. Although the report does not just deal with the reading of books but also of magazines and websites, this is nonetheless a far cry from the common misconception of the Maltese people as non-readers.
Labour MP Evarist Bartolo was right to call for the survey not to be treated with complacency. True, it is good news but the understanding of what the survey has to say about the reasons why people do or do not read needs to be evaluated and practical schemes put into place to bolster those who do and entice into reading those who do not. The National Book Council has already held a seminar in which its members evaluated the data in the survey and suggested practical projects that seek remedies for what causes disinterest in reading and others that help strengthen the approach to the propagation of the love of books.
Having a structure that gives more flexibility to the job that needs to be done to make libraries more enticing while nurturing collections and strengthening the infrastructure is indispensable. But if a new structure is to be bogged down by the bureaucratic, backward-looking, poorly-funded workings of some of its worst moments in the past, then the whole exercise will be useless.
The new librarian needs to be much more than an able administrator. S/he has to be a creative lover of books that understands that, in these times of easy distraction, libraries are not only places people visit but facilities that go out in streets, in schools, be out and about, to cultivate and bring readers to the fold.