Jaffna library - a symbol of resurgence

by Kevin Sites

Before it was burned down by a mob in 1981, the Jaffna Library was a repository for rare volumes on the Tamil people and their history. Its destruction was considered an attempt to destroy a culture. The library has been rebuilt, but many shelves are still empty and what filled them can never be replaced.

"We had palm-leaf manuscripts," says the library manager, S. Thanabalasingam, "books written on palm leaves, some over 300 years old. They told about the history of the Tamil people, folk medicine and culture." At the time, the library had nearly 100,000 volumes and was considered one of the best collections in Southeast Asia.

The mob came after midnight, according to Thanabalasingam, so no one was killed or hurt in the fire, but the destruction was devastating to much of the local Tamil population. "The people were very sad," says Thanabalasingam, who gave me a tour of the new building, completed in 2003, after the ceasefire agreement between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. "Much of their culture and their studies were all lost."

The new building mirrors the old Mughal style of architecture. Its soaring white domes can be seen above the tree line for miles, in nearly every direction. It cost almost 120 million rupees ($1.2 million) to rebuild, nearly all donated by the international community.

The library became a symbol of the effort to rebuild the Jaffna Peninsula after years of fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. Inside the building, students prepare for final exams in study rooms, while some browse the stacks. Others use the new computer room, equipped with 10 computers and a 64kbps Internet connection. It's painfully slow, but for the teenagers and young men using the computers, it's a precious window to the outside world. Along with funding, many countries as well as private individuals contributed books to the new library.

Thanabalasingam says the library has rebuilt its collection to almost 97,000 volumes, 30,000 of them in the Tamil language. But still, he shakes his head at what was lost. And with renewed violence in the region and talk that the ceasefire could break down completely, the library isn't taking any chances.

"We're keeping much of the new collection in different branch libraries throughout the region. We don't want everything in just one place, like the past. It's too dangerous."

Courtesy Yahoo

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Jaffna library is re-stocked

by Nimi Kurian

A chance to read something interesting. The need for education material in Asia continues. Says Gavin Tritt, Director, Books for Asia about the work they have done in Sri Lanka for 25 years, "Donations run the full gamut of subject areas, from higher education material related to medicine, economics, business, ESL, and dozens of other subjects, to children's readers and primary and secondary level school texts in English.

A particular focus has been on the northeast regions, and the web site has a highlight noting a special set of donations to help rebuild the Jaffna Public Library. Post-tsunami, we have directed a large proportion of donations to the affected regions, particularly at the school level, to help rebuild the libraries of schools that were destroyed."

"As international relief agencies and the Sri Lankan government rebuild the school buildings, we are able to step in with books to help fill the libraries. In addition, we received an incredibly generous donation of children's books from Scholastic, Inc. for tsunami relief."

Books for Asia has a monitoring system in place to ensure that books do not go astray. Regular staff visits ensure that the books are still there and are being used. Transporting of the books from the U.S. is also interesting. Books are received at San Leandor, California, where their warehouse is located.

The books are then packed in freight containers to be shipped to country offices and partners. They ship approximately 60 containers a year, with China being the largest recipient, and East Timor the smallest. The books are then sorted at the country office and sent on to reach the end user.

"In Sri Lanka, a lorry carries the books for the tsunami affected schools, dropping off book boxes as they pass schools along the coastal highway. Recipients who collect donated books at our distribution centres use all manner of transportation to get to their schools, including train, bus, taxi, donkey carts, and many others!" says Tritt. In India, the programme has been active in a rather small way because according to Tritt, "India has an incredibly vibrant English language publishing industry, and no apparent shortage of books, after all! Perhaps in the future."

It was 1954. The world was still reeling under the effects of World War II. A professor in Japan discovered that his students did not have any English-language textbooks. Being a Fulbright scholar, his first option was to appeal to his colleagues in the U.S. But then he needed the books in Japan and shipping it from the U.S. would not only be difficult but also expensive.

This is where The Asia Foundation stepped in.

It established "Books for Asian Students" (which later became Books for Asia) and asked for donations from publishers. Great success in ten years, Books for Asia had distributed more than four million books and 800,000 journals to institutions in Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Burma and Afghanistan.

The Asia Foundation is a "non-profit, non-governmental organisation committed to the development of a peaceful, prosperous, just, and open Asia-Pacific region". The Foundation supports programmes in Asia that help improve governance and law, economic reform and development, women's empowerment, and international relations.

In a number of countries, partnerships with governments and local business and philanthropic interests led to a sharing of the financial burden and consistent input on distribution. While the Foundation retains complete control over distribution, the programme is anchored in a culture of partnership and collaboration in the countries where it works.