Levan Berdzenishvili, the director of the National Library of Georgia works wrapped in a heavy sweater and tries to stay warm with a cup of instant coffee. His library in Tbilisi has no heat and no phones.
Like the country of Georgia, the library has suffered as a result of seventy years of neglect under Communist rule. Despite the fact that he hasn’t received a salary in over two months, Berdzenishvili continues to pay the electric bill so that patrons can continue to read. “A library can operate without heat or phones, but no one can read in the dark”. Here’s the story from the Baltimore Sun
Minutes from civil war?
Georgia’s problem is not really its library. President Saakashvili was denied entry into part of the country Sunday. The autonomous region of Adjara is going to be blockaded and the president put troops on alert.
I guess a few things are more important than libraries.