On December 6th, the popular library in the south of the district of La Matanza or the first one at the entrance of the district -depending on where you look- celebrated its Silver Wedding, an event that was celebrated with a big party at its current headquarters, at Máximo Herrera 6010, at Km 40,200 of Route 3.
This Institution, according to one of its co-founders and director, Clarisa Abaúnza, was born not only to promote reading and love of books but to be a beacon of culture for the Virrey del Pino society.
The party in front of the Library and facing the Route included, in the musical part, the performance of the Youth String Orchestra of the Leopoldo Marechal School of Art, Como sinsontes and the charanguista Jorge Imaña. At the end of the event there was a big birthday cake and some delicious empanadas that those present enjoyed.
We have accompanied Clarisa and her work for many years through our journalistic work, with which we developed a bond of friendship and affection, so this note is imbued with that feeling, what a recognition and admiration for her and her work.
Tell me why the library was founded?
“When the library was founded, on December 6, 1999, and we opened its doors for the first time, it seemed to the three founders, Monica Martinez, Adolfina Deliantoni and I, that we could not reach the new Millennium without a Popular Library in this very neglected area of our district, in the back of La Matanza, as they say. In addition, we understood that school libraries alone were not enough, that we should reach the community as a whole.”
Was that beginning somewhere else?
“Yes. For the foundation, a neighbor, Don Francisco Troilo, gave us three premises on the upper floor of the Paseo del Virrey 3 Gallery free of charge for a long time, where we installed the library, but the “biblio” grew by leaps and bounds, which forced us to rent other premises, occupying the entire upper floor, until in 2020, during the pandemic, we moved to this new space that was my parents’ house and we conditioned it so that the institution could function.”
It has not only been its function to lend books and promote reading, since it has a wide development of cultural activities such as having founded and maintained the first book fair in La Matanza for 10 years.
“That’s right. We define the institutional mission of the library as trying to be a cultural beacon in this region of the La Matanza district. We were able to put that together a long time later, actually, at the time, when we founded it and when we gave it the imprint as such, we followed the rules under which we were trained as professionals in library science and reading the directives of UNESCO and the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) that speak precisely of the fact that libraries should be a space for access to cultural goods.
With that objective we have worked during these 25 years to contribute to the community everything we can and a little more in cultural matters, culture cannot be for an elite, having that as a driving idea we have managed to hold the first book fair – as you say – for 10 years in La Matanza. In the same way we have had rare and novel workshops such as a philosophy workshop for children for 3 years or the formation of the Bebeteca, a space for reading and the training of young readers from 45 days of life that has already been operating for 15 years. In other words, we have activities that constitute us as precursors since they have been replicated in other spaces in the district.”
Some of the activities carried out by the library included prominent figures from national literature and culture…
“We always try to have national literary figures visit us. To name a few of those who have been here, I can mention María Teresa Andrueto, Liliana Bodoc, Laura Devetach, Laura Roldán, Eduardo Sacheri, Leonardo Oyola, Rodrigo Folgueira, Horacio Lalia and many others. That is why I say that we always try to offer our neighbors the best we have and that they can access certain cultural assets without having to cross the General Paz.”
How are the popular libraries in these times of Milei’s government, where culture has been attacked, where they are trying to prohibit the reading of certain books?
“Emilio, these are difficult times, very, very complex. Although CONABIP now has a very prominent librarian in its management, Raúl Escandar, a man who comes from the field of librarianship, has said that he will not reduce the budget for popular libraries, but in practice this is not the case, since the budget this year has been used in favor of only about 180 libraries of the more than 2,000 that exist in the country; some of them in a situation of service cuts and may end up ‘lowering the shutters’. There are provinces that are taking the lead and supporting these libraries so that they can survive. All this without the support of the nation is extremely difficult.”
This is with respect to the nation and the government that is adverse to everything that is popular, including culture. What happens with the other spheres of the State, speaking of the province and the municipality?
Fortunately, we continue to have the support of the province of Buenos Aires, with its contribution that is equivalent to two basic teachers’ salaries. It is not much, but for now it is what is certain. As for the district, we still do not have an ordinance that supports us. Although we have presented, as every year, a proposal for an ordinance so that our councilors take into account that we are a House of Culture, we have not yet had a response.
Te pueden interesar:
https://www.instagram.com/diarioncomatanza
https://facebook.com/diarionco
