I am so
passionate when it comes to issues of library. This is because I was a victim
of “lack of libraries in my vicinity” during my formative years. As a young
chap growing up, I remember I could read well. I had the zeal to learn new
words and understand new phrases. However, this zeal was challenged as I found
myself in an environment where the culture of reading was reserved for the
elite. After more than 20 years of primary school, I can still remember the
titles of some chapters of some of the books we read in school. I remember “this
is Ama” in primary two, “Mr. Kuma” in class three, “The
hawk and the hen” in class four, “When Aku was ill” in class five and
many more. Haaaa, these chapters always come with a sense of nostalgia.
I
remember I always wanted to be in the reading class because I believed I could
read. However, my reading prowess always ended in the classroom. I had no
reading book at home and to add salt to rub salt into my wound, I didn’t know
of a library. Yes, I don’t remember I heard the word library during my
developmental stages. And you know what, I have a confession to make. I have
come to realize that I was limited in my vocabs. No wonder during my BECE exam
(RME to be precise), when there was a question on chastity, I could not
answer it. It is not that I didn’t have knowledge on the subject matter, the
truth is I had not heard of the word.
I also
remember that I was timid. Oh yes, I was. I don’t mean I was reserved. I was
timid. Today I see myself as reserved. I was timid because I could not join any
meaningful discussion when I meet other friends from other environments. Did I
say friends? Hmmmmm, I should say other students. I had limited friends. I
don’t know whether this was as a result of my timidity or reserved nature.
Back to
the subject of availability of libraries. I narrated the above to let you know
what I went through. How I was able to overcome these challenges will be the
subject for another day. But what I learnt from these periods is the power of
reading and the essence of a library.
I have
learnt a lot of things from the library. By library, I do not only mean the
brick and mortar environments stocked with books. I see library as access to organized
information, ideas, and knowledge in a borderless environment. It is a place
where acquisition of knowledge takes place. We know about other cultures,
places, career, language among others from the library. These days, thanks to
technology, we may not necessarily have to move from one place to the other
looking for a library. Libraries are now available on our desktops. Let us make
frantic efforts in learning. Learning, yes, learning. We seize to live the very
day we seize to learn. Learn to improve your competencies. Learn to take
control over your life. Learn, learn, learn on your sick bed, learn in your
grave… ooooh, did I just say in your grave? Ha, maybe we should do a study to
find out if there is learning after death. But learn.
Ignorance
has become the greatest enemy of mankind. Why that face? So, you didn’t know
your greatest enemy? Then today stop focusing on that person. He is not the
enemy. The enemy is ignorance. How did you feel as a nurse when you told
everybody that chloroquine is the best therapy for the treatment of malaria in
this 21st century? What about you, you the librarian/researcher?
When you forcibly told people that the only way to do referencing is to
manually and meticulously write the bibliographic details of a material they
use down? What? Did you really tell them this? Aba!!!! How could you say this
my dear nurse, my dear librarian? In this age of ATCs? How could you recommend
chloroquine? In this age of reference managers? How could you force your users
to do that? What about you the n……? Are
you scared? I will not mention yours. The point is we may know something today,
but the rate at which knowledge is growing is unimaginable. So, let us refrain
from the attitude of I know and go back to the learning table. Let us unlearn
the antediluvian things. Let us abreast ourselves of up-to-date things.
And where
else can we do this better? I recommend to you the library. The place to
relearn. Oh yes, relearn. Have you considered the number of times a technology
or a system you are using gets updated? Hu? If you do not relearn how to use
its new functions, your system will become a white elephant. Relearn. Use the
library. Relearn.
“While we’re all born with an intense desire to learn,
somewhere along the line many of us lose our passion for learning. Whatever the
reasons, once the basics are covered, many people tend to stick with what they
know and avoid situations or challenges where they may mess up or be forced to
learn something new, thus creating a safe, secure and comfortable (and
confining) world for themselves. Here, they do their best to mould the changes
going on around them—in people, events and the general environment—to fit with
their current ‘mental maps.’ They may say they’re open to change, but actually
do their best to avoid it. For a while, that strategy can work fairly well.
What it doesn’t do is prepare them to adapt to a future that may well require
an entirely new set of maps.”
I once
again recommend the library for you as the place to learn, unlearn and relearn.
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