The cuban mobile library

I have already mentioned the importance that Che Guevara attached to having a literate population. Last year and American Librarian, Dana Lubow, took a fully stocked bookmobile to Cuba to donate to Granma's "1868 provincial library". It travelled through America and Mexico, reaching Havana at August 17th, 2008. The mobile library and it's contents had been donated by American citizens. By January 2009 it was operating in Granma province and it's rural locations. Dana's Blog has a number of photographs, take a look for yourself at http://bookmobile.wordpress.com/

The donation of the bookmobile came about because of strong links between a group of American Librarians and Cuban librarians. the bookmobile was not needed by the librarians to improve the literacy of the nation, there is a high literacy rate in Cuba, the problem is because of the economic sanctions that the US has with Cuba. Nothing can be imported from America so many of the existing books were getting well worn. The librarians wanted books and a method of distributing them to highly literate rural communities that were thirsty for more literature. They are reported as saying that the bookmobile "was a welcome addition to the Cuban librarians’ arsenal of professional tools to promote literacy, reading, education, self-improvement and community development throughout the countryside and into remote rural areas where municipal libraries cannot always regularly reach".