Cuba for Reading Week – A trip full of pleasant surprises
Reprinted from the newsletter of the Ontario College and University Library Association, InsideOCULA, Fall 2009, No 38. Photos by Anne Fullerton. For information on the next Havana Book Fair Tour click here.		Anne Fullerton, Librarian University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario Anne Fullerton Dr. Delio Carreras' right shares University of Havana's architectural and historical secrets. THIS WAS AN experiential learning adventure to the cultural and historic centres of Havana and the 18th Havana International Book Fair – a trip for Librarians and Bibliophiles. There were 21 of us – from library directors to librarians in their first professional job and a few significant others. Tatiana, a [Cuban] former teacher of English to businessmen, was our Cuba Education Tours guide. The Book Fair, held at Fortaleza de la Cabaña overlooking old Havana, was packed with Cubans of all ages. Entire families lined up outside each of the barracks to browse and buy books, listen to readings and get books signed. Others sat on the ramparts or blankets reading. "To Read is to Grow" was the fair's motto. Once it closes in Havana, the Book Fair travels to cities and towns all over Cuba and ends in the city of Santiago de Cuba. A reminder that the literacy rate is Cuba is high – 99.8 percent. Families pass through the gates of Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña to the 2009 Havana Book Fair. Artifacts, photos and letters in the Museum of Literacy document the campaign to improve literacy rates after the 1959 revolution. Tatiana said her mother "escaped from home" to be one of many young Cubans who went with gas lanterns to the hinterland with a book "Yes, I Can," [Yo, sí puedo] teaching people of all ages to read and write. A book of letters grateful new readers sent to Fidel includes the student's photo and the teacher's. The "Yes, I Can" program is used all over the world including Canada. The University of Havana, modeled after Columbia University with long steps up to the campus entrance, was a short walk from our hotel, Habana Libre. (Castro's first government operated from the hotel's 25th floor). Our guide Dr. Delio Carreras, the university historian and a retired law prof, regaled us with stories of student revolutions and studies with Fidel. He led us to a very traditional vaulted reading room with long tables and attached lights in the Central Library. The students we saw could have been ours – surrounded by papers and books at one table and crowded around a laptop at another. The book stacks are closed and judging by the size of the card catalogue, the collection is modest. When I saw, a display of Nature Reviews titles, I knew they also had an e-library. Handmade children's books at Ediciones Vigía in the city of Matanzas. We combined a half-day at Varadero beach with a visit to Ediciones Vigía, a publishing collective in the city of Matanzas, a former centre for the colonial sugar industry and the slave trade. We saw books being made by hand using very basic materials and techniques. Each book has a print run of 200. One librarian bought titles to fill in the gaps in her library's collection. Later, we visited a modest elementary school and gave them the pencils, markers, pencil crayons, notebooks etc., which we brought from Canada. This was one of several humanitarian aid donations we made that week. José Martí's bust with Daliesque mustache appears at schools, on roadsides, everywhere. The life of this national hero, prolific writer, poet and a revolutionary against Spanish occupation is chronicled in the José Martí Study Centre. Tiring of museums Cuban-style and simultaneous translation, I struck up a conversation with the security guard, who turned out to be a retired librarian who had studied in Denmark (as I had) and Germany before the revolution. Cuba is full of surprises. As Tatiana would say, "That's Cuba." "Yes, I Can" literacy teaching method used to fight functional illiteracy. ArrowMight, a Canadian pilot project in Ontario, Manitoba and B.C., is using the method. It was a surprise one morning when the José Martí National Library visit was cancelled – they had no power that day. Those who went on an alternate day vowed to find a way to send books to the National Library and Casa de las Américas in spite of the US embargo. Lehman College (CUNY) Chief Librarian Kenneth Schlesinger and University of Alberta Collections Librarian Cathy Carter developed a workable plan for donating and shipping books via Canada. "We hope the new US president will soon make it much easier to express our support and solidarity with our Cuban colleagues." A trip full of pleasant surprises. I look forward to going back. Tatiana is your guide.		Read what other librarians, writers and bibliophiles say about the Havana Int'l Book Fair Tour. Click here.
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