Celebration of the 4th Anniversary of the Network of Civic Libraries

Celebration of the 4th Anniversary of the Network of Civic Libraries /
Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada, Jennifer Fonseca Padrón
Posted on June 29, 2013
By Jennifer Fonseca Padrón, Activist and Independent Journalist

(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net) | Four years after the birth of the Network
of Civic Libraries (NCL), its members and founders decided to come
together to honor the date, look at the accomplishments of their work
and set new goals to reach. The celebration took place at the NLC
headquarters where a dozen librarians exchanged ideas and made a brief
account of the founding and development of the organization; among them
the presence of Teresita Castellanos, co-founder and integrant of this
civic organization, should be highlighted.

"The Network of Civic Libraries was created in mid-June 2009 at the
request of a group of librarians who were then dispersed without being
part of any project or already disappointed at others," says Omayda
Padrón, National Coordinator from the start to this day. One of the
future goals to achieve is the growth and rescue of libraries across the
country, she added. "The work of independent libraries is equally
important to the work of movements, political parties and other civic
organizations because it represents a permanent source of resistance
against the government in any community, city or province," said León
Padrón, a reporter invited to the talk.

The main objectives of the Reinaldo Bragado Bretaña Network of Civic
Libraries are book launches in independent libraries, giving lectures,
literary gatherings, offering courses on leadership, human rights,
Twitter, among others; exchanging ideas with other organizations and
mainly to make known books that have been censored by the government, as
well as to promote unknown literature in Cuba by Cuban writers from the
diaspora who were once convicted and even their work was banned. This
was the case of Reinaldo Bragado Bretaña, the writer and reporter the
Network is proudly named after.

Also it needs to be highlighted that within the Network we are
developing the Animated Smiles Project which consists in rescuing civic
values, encouraging reading as a habit and regaining the culture where
children play children's games, particularly for those who live in the
outlying communities of Havana where most of the families are
dysfunctional and present problems of alcoholism, drug and domestic
violence and many more, expressed Padrón.

Translated by: Chabeli

21 June 2013

Source: "Celebration of the 4th Anniversary of the Network of Civic
Libraries / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada, Jennifer Fonseca Padrón |
Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/celebration-of-the-4th-anniversary-of-the-network-of-civic-libraries-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada-jennifer-fonseca-padron/