Building Vibrant Communities Through Libraries

The 398.2 Storytelling Festival was held in many of the libraries of Singapore! Imagine a land bereft of books and stories! Its inhabitants will never know about the excitement, the anticipation, and the mystery of a story.

Libraries can transport us on a wonderful journey! They contain books for readers of every age, interest, and language. With a library in the vicinity, one can never be alone or lost, as one can find books containing fascinating, inspiring, and entertaining stories. Libraries have the capacity to transport people to the land of stories in just a matter of minutes. Those stories can continue to enthrall us with amazing adventures while sitting in the cool comfort of a library or our homes.

In Singapore, we are extremely fortunate to have well stocked libraries. We sometimes take our privileges for granted. The story below shows us that people in other parts of our wonderful world may not be as lucky and must face enormous challenges brought about by autocratic regimes and destructive wars. They must find innovative means to ensure the safety and availability of books for the community.

This story is about one woman’s determination to save the books from a library.

Librarian of Basra (A true story from Iraq)

Alia Baker was the chief librarian of the Al Basrah Central Library in Basra, a port city located on the Shatt Al-Arab River in the sand-swept country of Iraq.

Her library was a meeting place for lovers of books and stories. They discussed matters of the world and matters that affected humankind.

Children loved the library – a vibrant place teeming with activities, storytelling festivals, and reading programmes.

One day news of a war looming large became the talk of the town. 

All of Basra was worried, but one person who had sleepless nights was Alia. She was concerned that the bombardment from the war would destroy the books, more precious to her than all the wealth of the world put together. She feared for the safety of the books and the information contained therein. She was afraid all of it would be lost to the people of Iraq and to the world. 

The library had books in English, in Arabic and a Quran in Spanish. There were old books, new books, rare books, and archived books.  Alia asked the authorities for permission to move the books to a safe place, but in vain. “It is wartime, we have other important matters to work on, our limited resources must be put to better use, lady,” the authorities dismissed her pleas. 

Alia did not take it lying down. She decided to take matters into her own hands. Every evening she stayed up late, she secretly filled up her car after work, and she took books home every night. 

The murmurs of war grew louder. Alia’s library was converted into an office and people moved in. Soldiers stood guard around the building. An anti-aircraft gun was placed on the roof. Alia feared the worst. Then one day those fears materialized. The war reached Basra. The city was lit like a bonfire. 

Alia watched as the library fittings and furnishings were looted and finally the government workers and soldiers abandoned the library. Only Alia was around to protect the books. 

Adjacent to the library was a restaurant named Hamdan, she implored its owner to help her save the books. She called over the seven-foot-tall library wall to her friend Anis Muhammad, “Can you help me save the books?” Anis knew books were priceless and must be saved. 

Soon the entire community joined in the rescue mission. Some brought curtains to wrap the books, yet others brought old trunks and cardboard boxes to pack the books. The shopkeepers brought sacks and filled them up with books. They had a common goal-the books had to be saved. Most felt like Carl Sagan, “One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, someone dead for 1000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” 

All through the night Alia, Anis, his family, and his neighbours took the books from the library, passed them over the seven-foot wall, and hid them in Anis’ restaurant. There were many illiterates amongst them, but most knew that books were precious. 

The war raged on; the books stayed hidden all through the war. Then nine days into the war, a mysterious fire burned the library to the ground.

Finally, War moved on and away from Basra. Alia knew if the books were to be safe, they must be moved again while the city was quiet. Alia sprang into action, she pooled all her resources, some came with their mini vans, yet others brought their cars, a little girl came with her wheelbarrow, and together all thirty thousand books were moved to her home and the homes of friends. In most homes books were everywhere, on the floor, inside the closets, inside the cabinets, even an old unused refrigerator! Books filled every nook and cranny of many homes. 

Alia waited for war to end. She waited and dreamt of a peaceful land again with a new library. 

Do dreams come true? 

Yes, it did for Alia. The library was rebuilt in 2004 and Alia was reinstated as chief librarian again.

“Libraries will get us through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.” – Anne Herbert

PS: Alia Baker died on 13^th August 2021 from Covid-19 in Basra at age 69.

References:

1) Jeanette Winter’s The Librarian of Basra. 

2) Wikipedia