Libraries are critical institutions whose services permeate each and every aspect of human life. The pervasive natures of libraries make them indispensable tools for socio-economic and spiritual development of human kind. Libraries are the foremost cultural institutions of our times that provide a free space for the pursuit of knowledge. The essence of the library as a place and an institution lies in providing free and equal access to knowledge irrespective of race, caste, sex, or age .Appadorai views libraries as God’s gifts to humankind and this distinguishes libraries from those institutions whose services and products are profit driven.1

“…Gifts , and spirit of reciprocity, socialibility and spontaneity in which they are typically exchanged, usually are stark opposed to the profit –oriented self centered and calculated spirit that fires the circulation of commodities…”2 Libraries as repositories of human knowledge have existed since antiquity and archaeological evidence confirms their presence in ancient biblical places, for example, Nineveh, Asharbannupal in Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Jerusalem, among other places .3. The existence of these ancient religious libraries renowned for their extraordinary cultural value is a clear testimony of the Church’s effort towards a spiritual heritage documented by a library tradition which is both a good and a universal good placed at the service of human society. The Archbishop of Milan Tettamanzi noted that Church libraries should be viewed as privileged seats of human and spiritual growth of information, formation, and elevation and of refinement of spirit and as the fundamental instruments of human and spiritual promotion. 4

Churches role in promoting access to recorded knowledge

Historical evidence points out that ancient library were associated with the church and this is validated by the archeological evidence which confirms the discovery of clay tablets, papyrus scrolls, skin parchments and print based materials as the traditional media of information storage and retrieval. These developments mark the progression of the book from clay tablets, to papyrus scrolls, skin parchments, codex and the modern means of information storage and retrieval. Shoham notes that the medieval times were the best for recorded knowledge, for example, in Europe monasteries became great centers for proper libraries. Kumar notes that in present times the Vatican which is the citadel of Christianity is considered to be the holder of the finest collection of manuscripts anywhere in the world. He further notes that while the Church libraries in the occidental world made progress in contributing to the development of a corpus of human knowledge the orient was not far behind in this respect because it made significant progress through its royal and religious libraries.

Historically it is an undeniable fact that church libraries have helped in saving from the destruction the fundamental documents of culture and tradition. These great institutions are products off Rabbinic and Koranic schools, and those schools in Cathedrals and Monasteries. Cardinal Tetamanzi notes that in more critical times, they have saved, preserved, conserved and handed down sacred and non sacred texts that have been and still remain essential for the development of their respective religious, cultural and social contexts. It is therefore imperative that in this modern world, the role of church libraries is called forthwith and it requires renewed force and has to be more precisely attuned to the needs of the moment through incorporating Information and Communication Technologies.. 5 The role of Church libraries transcends beyond the mere collection and keeping of books but they help to encourage consultation and study through providing unfettered access to information and knowledge in various forms.

There is great importance attached to church libraries because they house the monuments of learning of human and Christian culture and also represent an inexhaustible wealth of knowledge from which the entire Church community and civil society can draw into the present the memory of their past. They represent the collective memory of Christian civilization and they have also helped to sustain the organizational memory of Christian institutions and ideas. Librarianship, archival science and related disciplines represent an indispensable means to put generations, which have encountered the Christian faith and life, in contact with everything that Christianity has produced in history and in human thinking. The Christian tradition - guaranteed by its everlasting character for all generations finds in written books a constant contribution for its diffusion and transmission, for its deepening of meaning and comprehension and for its living insertion within people's traditions. The idea of protecting, preserving, encouraging and promoting the reading , and circulation of books is for the Church a noble activity very close to the churches evangelizing mission. The churches derives the origin of the continuous care that the Christian community has had in its endeavor to create, protect, enrich, defend and add value to library services. The evangelizing mission of the church is a noble goal has given impetus to the drive towards the development of vibrant and relevant church library services.

Indeed book culture is the epitome of man’s civilisational achievements because it is impossible to think of book culture without libraries or vice versa because in real practice libraries and book culture are inseparable. The market place of ideas has been built around libraries, authors, publishers and copyright. Libraries have through centuries helped to popularize the book culture and the concepts of authorship. Books by nature are treasured instrument and vehicle of fundamental messages because they have helped to capture the memory of a society.

Church libraries as agencies of culture

Church librarians have a moral and professional obligation to work towards strengthening and improving with utmost reverence the real meaning of their work; and this can be achieved through using the inestimable cultural heritage they guard with passion, and by making use of the technical competence and cultural background which belongs to them and which they keep on updating through continuous professional development. These librarians should help to encourage and to develop common educational strategies in order to form mature and well balanced human beings, who are able to give material and spiritual values full weight and develop men who are able to find out and to cultivate their own real essence, who are cautious and respectful of the highest values of freedom and solidarity. It is through such efforts that church libraries will fully achieve the aim for which they were founded and to which the librarians have to devote and dedicate themselves to. They will become thus a network of laboratories for the formation and the growth of well rounded human beings who are physically, spiritually and intellectually well balanced.

The late United Nations Secretary General Sir Dag’s Hammarskjöld noted that libraries were critical institutions in the drive towards preventing destructive wars because problems of human kind originated in the mind and it is therefore imperative to use libraries to build in people’s minds defensive mechanism that help to prevent war, promote peace, progress and spiritual growth for the good of humanity. The world as it stands today is bedeviled by numerous problems and these can be solved through the promotion of an information and multi-modal literate society that really values and appreciates the role of information in development and uses information in a judicious manner.

There is great need to ensure that the noble goal that librarians fulfill as encapsulated in the “ministry of a librarian" should be considered fully and honorably within the Christian community. This is justified that librarians are not mere workers but also promoters and sponsors of culture and, consequently, of evangelization of the Church through working to increase the knowledge of the church community and promoting research conducted by those who want to deepen their own knowledge.

References

1. APADORAI, a.(ed)The social life of things:Commoditiesin cultural perspective.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1986.p.11-23.

2. Ibid.
3. Kumar, G.Sociology of Information Management.New Delhi:Har-Anand Publications, 1998. p.15.
4. Tettamanzi,D.(cardi)Religious libraries;Common laboratories of educational strategies.Paper presented at the offsite conference of Ifla on Religious libraries at the Biblitheca Ambrossiana, Milan on 24th. August , 2009.
5. Pontifical Commision for the cultural patrimony:Ecclesiastical Libraries and their role in the mission of the Church .Rome:1992.