Library Day. Interview with the director of Mario Vargas Llosa

Today, October 24, we celebrate the Library Day. So I'm going to Mario Vargas Llosa, the municipal library of my town, La Solana (Royal City), a cultural reference par excellence since 1955. Its director is in charge Ramona Serrano Posadas, whom I sincerely thank for taking the time to respond to these questions that bring us closer to the world of a local library.

Su history and evolution, its day-to-day operation and its activities or anecdotes. Ramona Serrano also tells us about her experience as a librarian, Its tips for those who want to be and ends with their love for books.

1. Can you tell us a little about when the municipal library began to function from its beginnings until it took the name of Mario Vargas Llosa?

En 1955 La Solana opened the doors of its first library, located on the first floor of the Town hall. It was a small room but with a beautiful Mudejar-style wooden coffered ceiling that is still preserved today and is used as a Meeting Room. In 1975 moves to the House of Culture, old Casa del Pueblo that had served until then as a school. It is a large building with several floors and the Library occupied the ground floor, with a very spacious room and a large storage room.

Ten years later there was great reform in the building and the Library expanded its spaces and the Exhibition Hall that was there became a press room and a consultation and study room for adults.

With the new millenium arrived the computer revolution to the library. through the program Liber-Marc a large part of the bibliographic collection was computerized. In addition, there are no longer only books on their shelves, but you can access the music, cinema and Internet. So it becomes an important information center.

And in the christmas 2009, as a King's Gift, the library is reborn in a new place and is baptized as Mario Vargas Llosa Public Library. Now it is that huge building with three very well defined floors: children and youth, adults and internet center or media library. But the desire is the same: to be a library alive and full of future.

2. How is the day to day in the library?

I can personally tell you that it is very gratifyingEvery day is different from the one before. As head of the center I have a lot of work, (acquisitions, cataloging, review of funds, accounting, programming of activities, reading clubs, school visits, customer service...).

Many days you go home and you cannot disconnect, your mind is focused on what you have left pending and it is even difficult for you to sleep. like any job there are good days and bad days, but in general if you like the job, as is my case, the bottom line is always positive and wanting to excel.

3. What do you think is the most important evolution in terms of technology and benefits in recent years?

technologically we have evolved a lot. When I started working, the records of the books were made with a typewriter and the loans were manuals. Then came the electric typewriter and a little later the first computer and the first program for libraries (¡¡).

It was huge, sometimes even desperate, the work of pass all the data from the manual records to the computer program (one by one). And when we had already overcome it, a new regulation came to unite all the libraries in the network, which meant reconversion of data, a new computer program...

We have come a long way in recent years: you can take the mobile user card and use it in any library in Castilla La-Mancha. You renew or reserve books from home. You can access the book reading online With the program e-library. You can also participate in a book club online… It really is impressive.

4. Has the user of the library changed? Or is the average number of children, young people and adults who visit it similar? Is La Solana a reading town?

have varied because people are changing, depending on the time and the personal situation of each one. Until recently we had a large number of Immigrants. Now that has changed significantly, except for those who have registered here with a view to the future. The young people who have left to the university and they only visit us on vacation, while new ones who didn't know the library join us.

Many children begin to know and enjoy novelties and activities what we offer. The ones that suffer the least variation are the adults. They remain, they are more constant, and there is a continuous flow of those who come and go.

Are we a reading people? Honestly, and looking at the statistics, I think we are not bad. The library is quite alive, and surely there are many readers who do not visit us but autonomously stock up on their reading (school libraries, electronic books...). What really matters to me is that you keep reading, young and old, that they do not give up, that they do not leave it, it is one of the best habits of this life and it will bring them many benefits in the present and in the future.

5. What kind of activities does the library carry out?

We do a lot, although less than I would like, but we have to stick to a budget, and money... is what it has. Although many times it is about using the imagination and exploiting the resources to the maximum that we have within our reach. In this sense we make a campaign in summer, along with seven other libraries, which is great for getting kids and parents involved in reading just when they're on vacation.

En autumn we run a program reading encouragement in collaboration with schools (writers, illustrators, storytellers...). there are also the Book Days in the month of April and Christmas contests. And throughout the course we have the story time, school visits, book presentations...

And of course our book clubs, one of adults and another for disabled with their respective activities. We also collaborate with AMPS of schools and institutes, the Women's Center, People's University and other local associations.

6. What do you like most about your job? And what less?

Practically I think I like everything, from the internal work, which can be tedious and boring, but I must confess that the cataloging of the different materials (we no longer only have books, but also music, CDs, videos...) I quite like and in that sense I am quite a perfectionist. mand bugs annoy.

The contact with the public is very encouraging. Sometimes you become a psychologist for the users who visit us, and when the book you have recommended has been liked and they ask for another, it is the best reward. The worst thing is to act as the main person in charge and act as such in certain unpleasant situations that fortunately there are not many.

What hurts me the most is the lack of interest, the ignorance of our work, little recognition... although after so many years I am already "cured". My biggest critic is myself and what really matters is my own conscience and I am very demanding with myself.

7. Can you tell us a particular favorite anecdote even though there have been many?

The last one, not long ago, in Madrid, in the subway. they called my name and a lot of people traveled. I'm surprised how many people know me (¡¡). I think it's great not to lose anonymity for the work and work you're doing. It is worth continuing to work.

8. And any advice for those who want to be librarians and are preparing?

I would tell them that if they apply for this job, that they know it before and are well informed. you have to have desire to work, interest for culture in general and for reading in particular, communication skills, convey the desire to read, encourage reading at all levels, be creative, have imagination… You cannot be a passive person, without ideas. The library must be part of you, and if you don't activate it, you don't energize it, it dies. Today we have many competitors and it is not a question of fighting with them, but of living with them.

9. Can you imagine a life without books?

NOOOOO!! They are part of us in an intrinsic way. Not even in the not too distant future, when we are dominated by robotics, I am sure they will continue to exist. I could give up many things (television, tablet...), but not books. For me, being surrounded by books, living with books and with readers is one of the best things that life has given me. If I were born again I would be a librarian again.

I would like to end with a quote from Jorge Luis Borges: «Of the various instruments invented by man, the most astonishing is the book; all others are extensions of his body. Only the book is an extension of the imagination and memory. And I would add that it is because it is made with the heart.