Luis Soriano, a teacher in the small town of La Gloria, Colombia, has spent the past 15 years bringing books to children of the rural communities on the back of his donkeys. He stores the ~5000 books at his home and also stores some at friends houses, because he is out of room. He is currently in process of building a physical space, that project remains incomplete due to lack of funding – but my focus is on the unorthodoxy of a Donkey-delivery library. The Donkeys, aptly named Alfa & Beto help Soriano take long journeys to remote farm villages in the Northern, war-torn region of Columbia.
Soriano has a classical library problem – space & organization – and as demand grew from the children of these remote Columbian villages, more and more people began donating books, he began to worry and realize that he would run out of space.
His storing system make it difficult to find books sometimes, they may be at a friends house, or they may be under piles of books in his own home. He sees it has his duty though – to fill the requests of the children. His dedication is truly admirable.
In 2012, he lost a leg due to amputation to an accident with his donkey, but remains dedicated to serving the community.
This brings up the question of the responsibility of a librarian, and really the definition therein. Classically, librarians study library science and become the main curator of the books in a collection. Their responsibilities typically include managing a budget, ordering, obtaining, & organizing materials, and providing easy access to these material for patrons of the library. Soriano, when you think about things – pretty much does all of these things. Just without very much money. I’m sure he had no formal library science training, nor does he really have much of a budget to work with when trying to grow the collection – which still remains mainly children’s adventure books, and basic reference texts for young students. Yet Soriano receives donations of books and must keep them organized. I had a hard time finding what, if any, classification system he uses, so I assume its all idiosyncratic. He knows where the books are, but not many other people do.
Soriano’s project is run out the kindness in his heart. He is not supported by some Rich Collector that buys up every cool manuscript, piece of art, or historical document, he is a simple man with a simple goal. Delivering books to children who would otherwise never learn to read. In turn, the children can teach their parents who lived through some horrible paramilitary occupation in Columbia and were never properly educated.
Soriano’s dedication has inspired not only those directly around him, but thanks to several interviews and articles & video profiles – he has inspired similar delivery systems around the world. Another great delivery library system is the Kenyan Camel Library, which is an official government initiative to spread literacy through the poorer regions of the country.