The NGO (non-governmental organization or non-profit) that I was assigned to when I first arrived in Gyumri is on the verge of closing. It had been established in 2002 by diasporan Armenians for the purpose of stimulating business recovery in this area as a response to the earthquake and to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The NGO had been successful for several years, but then funding dried up as the management changed. So the director’s purpose in having me has been so that I could apply for grants for new programs. Unfortunately funding for most NGOs in Armenia has been sharply curtailed because of the worldwide economic crises, because of the corruption involved in NGOs and the demand for greater accountability, and because of the larger questions about how effective aid to Armenia has been, and a re-focus on where aid can do the most good. So I have been searching for a new focus, in addition to doing a lot of teaching.
Several months ago I walked into a regional library here, introduced myself, and asked if I could help. The regional library, similar to a main county library, supports five district libraries and 127 villages. Over more cups of tiny Armenian coffee than I care to remember, the director and I talked about changes in the library. So I began to read about libraries in Armenia, visit NGOs which support libraries, look on-line for grants, visit other libraries, attend library meetings, and I had several meetings with people in Yerevan who were significantly involved in changing the direction of libraries in Armenia. This included a meeting with a man who is equivalent to the head of our Library of Congress. So I got excited, but today I’m depressed.
Several weeks ago I went to a conference in Yerevan that had to do with libraries, book publishing, and book authors in Armenia. Of course the program was all in Armenian, but headsets were handed out to people like me, and the simultaneous translation was fabulous. From this meeting and a few other sources I received the following information: The average number of books checked out per year per capita from libraries in Armenia is 3.39; in Yerevan it is .98. The average number of books purchased in Armenia per capita is not even measurable, far less than one per year. (In the US the number of books checked out from libraries is 9 per capita, but the number of books purchased is around 18.) 95% of Armenian libraries have not seen new books since 1991. There has been a serious decline in interest in Armenia in books, reading, and publishing. The libraries were decrying the fact that they received inadequate funding from the Ministry of Culture, the publishers were saying that 1,000 copies was a best seller in Armenia, which was too small of a run to be profitable, and the authors were complaining that the publishers won’t publish their books. Someone mentioned that they never see Armenians reading, whereas in the US on public transportation, in coffee shops, doctors’ offices, etc., people are always reading. I always carry a book. It is absolutely true that I never see Armenians reading. The book publisher also said that it was too expensive to have a book translated from another language into Armenian, and then to sell enough copies to cover expenses. At my meeting with the top library guru in Armenia, I was told that outside the universities in Yerevan, there were no qualified librarians in the country. The only masters program in library science is just two years old and has six students. Electronic card catalogues outside Yerevan universities are unheard of. In the city I live in, Gyumri, which has 140,000 people, there are no bookstores. In Yerevan there are only five true bookstores, which are very small, though some office supply stores sell a few books.
I love public libraries. But the Gyumri regional library is one of the most depressing places I have ever been in. A library had been completed just one week before the devastating earthquake of 1988 and the new library collapsed. The current library has been in temporary quarters since 1989. The first time I walked in there were buckets all over the floor and plastic on all the bookshelves collecting and warding off rainwater. There are over 100,000 books, 99% are over 25 years old, most are in Russian, and there are not enough shelves to hold them so they are stacked all over the floor also. 70 women work in this library with one male director. They have a manual card catalogue system, which is in terrible condition, and you are required to leave your passport when you check out a book. (Is this because theft is an issue?)
The answers about what to do seem so easy to me but they are nearly impossible to implement in this country. The library needs to get rid of books, especially the old Russian technical books that are uselessly out of date, and the hundreds of books about Lenin and Stalin. But the director tells me that because his is a regional library, he cannot get rid of books. The Yerevan library guru tells me that copies of all these Russian books exist in the Yerevan central library where they can be used for research purposes and that it is absolutely unnecessary for the regional library to keep these books, but that there is no direction from the Minister of Culture to these libraries and there are no qualified library directors who can make these decisions. The Armenian Library Consortium (headed by the library guru) has data on which books to purge but the local libraries lack the equipment and sophistication to access the data. Storage off-site for the books on the floor is not an option because the director can’t afford to pay for it.
I am really curious about the library budget. Each of the 70 women is paid the same, equivalent to $94 per month. In Armenia, workers are paid by the month. The minimum wage is $83 per month, going up to $89 in January 2011. There is no hourly wage. There is a woman who works in a little hut outside my apartment building selling bread who works 12 hours a day seven days a week for $83 per month. The women in the library work five days a week from ten to six. I can’t figure out what they all do other than drink coffee all day. But this is the Soviet system where people show up and get paid but do not have to produce. So I wonder if the library could function with 35 women who really worked and if the director could use the money saved for repairs and new books. Is it possible to change a culture where there is no work ethic, or no understanding of what work is? I suspect that the director’s budget includes a certain amount for salaries, where he tries to employ as many people as possible, and another amount for the rest of his expenses.
I asked the director about the possibility of keeping the library open later, maybe until eight at night during the week, and opening on weekends for limited hours. He said that the government wouldn’t let him do it, that his employees are government employees and they keep government hours. I asked the Yerevan library guru about this question. He said that the director can change the hours, but that he does not want to, probably because he would feel that he had to be there all the time since the level of trust, which would allow him to trust his employees to manage without him, does not exist.
The director says that he needs a new building. A few years ago an American of Armenian descent from San Francisco came to Gyumri and offered the director $400,000 to build a new library (an amount which actually would pay for a new library in Armenia.) Somehow the (corrupt) city mayor became involved, proposed an excellent site, and had plans drawn up for a combined library and museum. The donor said that he was willing to finance a two-story library but not a museum. The mayor would not reconsider and the library was never built.
I visited a small local library in a town called Charentsavan, which I had been told was the best local library. It was wonderful. The library director had “donated” all the old non-circulating books, began a focus on attracting children, who then brought in their parents, received some old computers and offered computer classes, began art classes and story-telling for the kids, and then was able to attract some grant money which allowed her to create a large flexible common space where she has community meetings, offers classes, has small plays and puppet shows, and where she has a computer center open to the public. I realized that the director is key to the success of a library (or any organization.)
The Gyumri regional director is about 52 years old, and a very nice man. He worked in some other government capacity until 2002 until he was appointed library director, though he had no experience with libraries. (In Armenia experience means nothing. The only thing that counts is whom you know.) He desperately would like financial help to “fix” the library but he is not willing to cut his staff, not willing to encourage free use of the computers and the internet, not willing to purge useless books, not willing to face up to the mayor who cost him a new library, not willing to change the library hours to accommodate the times when people could use it best, not willing to hire staff based on their qualifications vs. relationships, etc.
So what can I do? Several months ago, a notice came through the Peace Corps that a van was available through the US Government for a useful cause. I asked the director if he would like the van to visit the district and village libraries, and to shift books around. He and his staff currently go by taxi to visit their other libraries, which means that they don’t go often because of the expense. He was so excited. We are first on the list to get the van, and I’m waiting to hear. The cost of tuition for going to graduate school for library science in Yerevan for 2-1/2 years is $1,200. I asked the director if he had someone who could go if I could find the tuition. (I had someone in mind.) I’m hopeful that Marik will start next September. The director specifically asked me if I could help with a grant for the bathroom in the library. (See picture below.) The PC has small grants available to volunteers for projects. I am applying for a bathroom grant. This has become an incredibly difficult project because of all the “ifs” and “buts” voiced by the director who says that he can’t get quotes for the job, which are required for the grant. (I am tired of saying, if you can’t get them, I can’t get the grant.) Actually in Armenia it is very difficult to get anything in writing, including quotes/bids and receipts because the underground economy comprises more that 70% of the economy, a direct result of an ineffective and corrupt tax system. (In the US it is estimated at 7%; people who don’t declare their tips and those who sell on eBay without collecting sales tax!) This bathroom is used by the 70 women, the director, and the general public, but not by me! The water for coffee also comes from there. I asked the director what kind of toilet he wanted to put in the renovated bathroom, and he wants to replace it with the same hole in the ground. He tells me that it is “more hygienic.” I’m thinking about telling him that since the grants are for community projects and that here must be a community consensus about what should be done, that I will have to poll the women to see if they prefer a sit-down seat, or a hole in the ground!
Public toilet in Gyumri regional library.
This was a combined Thanksgiving Day and monthly birthday celebration.
Note dessert plate: Slice of pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, candy, and an orange and apple. Very typical! The guys passed out the stuffing and gravy individually to each child and convinced them to eat it. Miraculously, they did.
Danny and Mike cutting up the turkeys. Literally, cutting (see scissors).
Kitchen crew, Mike, and staff. This group was wonderful to us.
Teacher, Mike, and Judy with students.
Making gravy for 120 people. Note whisk, courtesy of St John Vianney kitchen. My daughter got carried away when she picked the "right" size.
The Side-Dish Trio; Danya, Amanda, and Rani at an AIDS Day event, the day after our dinner.
