Lara and Mariana look around the shelves of Coruche’s mobile library – Coruja do Saber – looking for the book they are going to take home. Both attend the 2nd year of Escola Básica 1 e Jardim-de-Infância da Lamarosa, in the municipality of Coruche, and want to take home the book Frozen but there is only one copy in the van. None of them want to give in and Norberto Esperança, the librarian responsible for Coruja do Saber, has to resolve the matter. With a coin toss, it is decided that Lara will take the book home but with the promise of lending it to Mariana as soon as she has read it.
Mariana didn’t like not being able to take the book home and, after all the boys returned to the classroom, Norberto Esperança offered her some gum to alleviate her sadness. The matter was resolved, but the librarian confesses to O MIRANTE that a similar episode had never happened to him. The van, which has around 1,500 books, from children to adults, was parked in the Lamarosa school playground on a sunny Friday morning despite it being winter. Norberto Esperança, 65 years old, has been a library technician at Coruche City Council for 42 years, having trained in the library field.
Most of his time is spent at the Municipal Library of Coruche, which alternates with the Coruja do Saber project that runs through the schools in the parishes of the municipality and also meets the elderly. In 1999, the municipality started a project called “A book and a friend” to travel around schools. Norberto Esperança and a colleague transported six or seven trunks in a small van that they took to schools for children to read. “We reached the point of not being able to fulfill what was asked of us. The children started asking for certain books and collections that we didn’t have, which was very good because we were able to instill in them a love of reading and books and that is the most important thing”, he reflects.
In 2017, the municipality acquired a van and the Coruja do Saber project started in September 2018. During the entire academic year, it goes to schools in the municipality, except those in the municipality’s main town and Couço because there are school libraries there. Older people can also go to schools and teachers are also frequent customers of the mobile library. Using a laptop computer, Norberto Esperança has access to all readers with a card so they can pick up and return books. Coruja do Saber also supports the issue of syllabus, where teachers order in advance the books they need to support the class and the municipal library team hand delivers or sends them the requested work.
Norberto Esperança says he really likes this project because he enjoys contact with people, especially younger people, and being able to instill in them a love of reading. He regrets that, according to national studies, young people are reading fewer and fewer books. “Younger people are very dependent on cell phones and other mobile devices. Books develop creativity and stimulate brain development, which is why it is so important to read them”, he highlights.
Knowledge Owl keeps elderly people company in the most remote places
In addition to encouraging a love of reading in young people, Owl of Knowledge also encourages older people. Norberto Esperança tells O MIRANTE that they go to more remote areas of the municipality such as Nicho, in Volta do Vale, in the parish of Couço. There are about a dozen elderly people who don’t miss a visit to the mobile library. “They take the opportunity to catch up and say which books they liked the most, which ones they liked least and recommend books to each other. It becomes a meeting point on the days we go there,” he explains.
Norberto Esperança says that Joaquina Chambel, 81 years old, who lives in São Torcato, never misses a visit from the Saber Owl. The librarian tells her the day she is going there and at the appointed time the lady appears to return a book and take another to entertain herself in the evening. “We are company for these people and that is very important. I really like doing this because bonds of friendship are created”, she emphasizes. In these more remote places, it is common to offer cabbages, oranges or spinach, as a way of recognizing your visit.
The librarian highlights the importance of this project, especially in training readers and trying to create reading habits. The fact that children take the book and know that they have to return it creates rules and responsibility to take care of what is not theirs, says Norberto Esperança, adding that interest in reading begins to be noticed in the 3rd and 4th years of schooling. The librarian confesses to O MIRANTE that he likes reading but should read more. Among his favorite books are “The Old Man and the Sea”, by Ernest Hemingway, and “Equador”, by Miguel Sousa Tavares.
