The Librarian

Elizabeth is the librarian at TICH. Just since January, she has taken huge stacks of neglected books and organized them into a beautiful symphony filling shelf after shelf. Most of the books are old. I'm reading “Emma,” by Jane Austen, a paperback edition published in 1964. It's only one year younger than me! The last two books I check out, Dennis, the library assistant, reaches for his bottle of paper glue. He smears the glue on a piece of paper and presses the form into the back of the book. He then checks the calendar next to his desk, looking ahead one week, and adjusts his date stamp.

As Dennis stamps the date onto the paper in the back cover, a smile spreads over my face. Just the thought of taking that book into my hands brings me joy. It's not a new book, but instead possesses yellowed pages and an ancient smell, but it's new to me, and that date stamp is new to me and I have only one week, so I must scurry away, fast, and devour this goodie before it expires. For there are many, many other yellowed pages on Elizabeth's shelves for me to turn, while the turning is good.

The library doesn't have a huge number of volumes, but they have the basics and many classics in literature. I love going to the library at lunch. There I become greedy. If a book speaks to me, as many do, I want to take it home that instant and read it cover to cover and keep it forever. As a staff member, I can check out three books at a time. The loan period is one week, much too short. So I arrive weekly with a book to be rotated out. The Norton Anthologies are my favorite, compact treasures containing gems of writing by great minds, and funny minds, and extra sharp minds from all eras.

While browsing at lunch, a steady line of colleagues come by and each of them speaks; it's the custom. Browsing at TICH is totally unlike visiting a library in the U.S. where I may not know another person. Here, everyone is known, even the students, making a contemplative browse nearly impossible.

There are two floors to this candy store. The second floor has several open shelves, waiting to be filled. When I leave Kisumu, all the books I brought to Kisumu will stay here with Elizabeth, catalogued and shelved, adding to the symphony of this sweet and sparse library. The American Embassy from Nairobi visited on Monday and were impressed. Our library outshines those at other area universities, they tell Elizabeth, and they want to create an American corner, at no cost to TICH. My mind goes crazy thinking of access to books and other materials from the U.S., but I contain the excitement (sort of).

Elizabeth should be proud. She has created a clean, open and treasure-filled space at TICH. When I tell Elizabeth how much I love her library, she laughs and says I have made her day, that she works hard but doesn't necessarily see the progress. We both lament not having a computer in the library, with access to the Internet. A computer connected to the net would make ours a true Resource Center.

But I love this library. Love the possibilities of it, the empty shelves, so strong, waiting patiently for their cache of gems. Even with all its limitations, I love this sweet library and am confident those gems will arrive. One day.