The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 31, July 17, 2005, Article 14

BAGHDAD LIBRARIES REBUILDING

 From a recent USA Today story, libraries in war-torn Iraq
are slowly getting back on their feet:

"Driven away by bombs, dispirited by shelves emptied by looters,
visitors to the public library in Baghdad's Khadamiya district are
now starting to return.

There's still work to be done. Stolen books and looted furniture
must be replaced. But seeing the return of readers is inspiring
enough for Alya Abdul Hussein, a librarian here for 20 years."

"Some libraries, such as the one in Khadamiya, fend for themselves.
Opened in 1947, it's one of the oldest operating libraries in the city.
It's a plain, two-story structure, small and dusty, with books resting
on bare metal shelves. The ground floor is used by women and
children; men visit the second floor. The ground floor opens onto
a garden, with a view of the nearby Al-Ama bridge, that is often
used by students.

In April 2003, in the chaotic days following the fall of Baghdad,
looters broke into the library, Hussein says.

Her husband brought his gun from home and the two stood sentinel
over the building, but not before looters made away with about
10,000 books and magazines, leaving about 5,000 volumes behind.

One day around that time, a U.S. tank pushed into the property and
punched a hole in the wall, Hussein says. Military interpreters told
her they were looking for Iraq's former leader, she says. Hussein
says she used her first paycheck from the city to patch up the hole
and mend the fence outside.

Soon after, she visited area mosques and posted signs asking
residents to return her books.

"Some people came by themselves and brought them back. Others
started to leave them behind the wall of the library (because) they
didn't want to be known," she says. "Other people began
volunteering their own books."

To read the full story, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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