I spent well over a year on several projects that I had hoped would help the Shirak Regional Library in Gyumri. (The library is like a main county library; it supports five district libraries and 127 village libraries.) One project was successful; a bathroom remodel funded by USAID. Another project, to obtain a “biblio-bus”, has been approved, the Mercedes 14-passenger van identified, and it is in transit from Italy as I write this. The bus application process began last August 2010 and a major disappointment is that it did not arrive before I left (though I did offer to go to Italy and drive it to Armenia.) The van has been donated by the US through EUCOM. My major project was to try and help create a modern library. The catchwords are a “Center of Civil Society”, meaning public meeting spaces, free Internet access, access during hours outside the normal workday, and educational programs. I identified financial and material help, including foundation aid, help from the US Embassy, individual donors, support from librarians in Los Angeles, a US based architect interested in historic preservation, and the possibility of help from a historic preservation foundation. The goal was to identify a new location for the library in the Kumaiyri Historic Preservation Area of Gyumri. Then I got lucky. 2012 is the 500th Anniversary of the Printed Word and Yerevan was selected the Book Capital of the World by UNESCO, so the Armenian Government wanted things to happen to celebrate the occasions. The Armenian Ministry of Culture offered a historical building that was under renovation in Gyumri for a new library.
The problems became insurmountable. The existing library has 10,000 annual users, 80 employees (though at no time did I ever count more than 32 employees in the library at one time), 200,000 books (mostly stacked in piles to the ceiling in storage), and realistic space for about 10 users. There are also ten obsolete computers (four of which are available to outside users), two newer donated computers, and an actual manual “card” catalogue. An equivalent US library with 10,000 users (per the American Library Association) would have 7-11 employees, 20,000 books, and space for 40 users. While the new space is more than three times the existing space, the architect calculated that shelving all 200,000 books would take up all the floor space offered, and that the floors could not support the load. The director insisted that each of the 80 “cultural workers” had to have her own workspace “by law.” We talked to the director about a book collection management policy following loose US guidelines, such as dumping scientific books after ten years unless they have historical merit. This step alone would have eliminated a significant portion of the books, which are Soviet era technical manuals, many of which are more than forty years old. The director insisted that “by law”, no books could be discarded. (Knowing that, if given three hundred new books, the director would never get rid of obsolete books, I never offered new books from the numerous sources open to volunteers. The library simply did not have the room.)
My plan had been to help create a vision of what this new library would look like, create a floor plan with the architect, outline the steps to make the vision a reality, and then apply for grants and the other sources of funding to create the reality. As it stands, the building will be finished in December and the library will move-in in early 2012. The Ministry of Culture lacks additional funds to provide new computers, furniture, shelving, or any amenities. The director insists that I don’t understand the “law” which places all books (obsolete, non-circulating, non-relevant, etc.) and cultural workers ahead of the needs of library users. What I do understand is that the director is not a librarian and he cannot prioritize his books, he has immense status as the result of having 80 cultural workers, and, as was true in Soviet times, the end user is the least important part of this equation. The director has sole authority for the management of the library.
So we reached an impasse. The architect told him that she could not work on a project that she did not believe in. I told him that I could not work without her to create a plan to present to potential funders, and I told him that he was not creating a “new” library but was re-creating a Soviet-style library in a new space. As disappointing as this whole process was, I do realize that the actual move may cause him to re-think what we had discussed about creating user-friendly spaces. He feels that after the move, he can create the center of civil society, which he really wants, if he can keep all his books and all his cultural workers.
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