Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Saving African Libraries: Egyptian Library Burned December 19, 2011

Today I saw a post on Facebook about The Scientific Institute's Library in Egypt that had been burned. I immediately cringed as I have been yearning to increase my knowledge base on early books in Egypt and have even contemplated returning to graduate school to learn more for my studies on the vast body of knowledge and books that have gone untapped and analyzed from my perspective. The Scientific Institute was built in 1798 on the order of Napoleon Bonaparte. I have been writing about Napoleon yesterday in my journal which at the top reads Napoleon-Africa-St Maurice-New Orleans.

You can read details about the this incident here: The Egyptian Scientific Institute in Cairo, and watch the video below.


Here is a YouTube video of the fire. I am no museum curator but I hardly think that the proper way to care for the books after a burning is the step on them in a large truck and allow so many to handle then in this way. Caring for our national treasures takes a community. We have to share our knowledge and resources with countries that are not equip with the proper tools to ensure that these treasures are around for future generations. This incident is testimony to the fact that we most make a concerted effort to properly preserve our ancient libraries. What is a city without its libraries? What are a people without knowledge of where they come come? It is imperative that we maintain all books for we never know what new insights future generations may gain from them that we do not see.

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