Biblio Files, 2005
Edition of 500
Copies available here.

Castro's Library (Biblioteca Heberto Padilla, interior), 2005
Havana, Cuba

An investigation in Cuba -- including the production of a newspaper, a video documentary, library inventories and photographs -- of the country's contentious Independent Library Movement. Read more here.

Castro's Library (Biblioteca Elena Mederos, exterior), 2005
Havana, Cuba

Castro's Library, 2005
University of Toronto Art Centre

Castro's Library, 2005
University of Toronto Art Centre

Castro's Library, 2005
University of Toronto Art Centre

Castro's Library, 2005
video
15:00

In 1998, Robert Kent, a librarian working in the New York public library system, was the first to initiate a concentrated effort in support of the "Independent Library Movement" in Cuba. On his private website, he accuses the Castro government of attacking "intellectual freedom" through its harassment, and recent jailings, of the independent librarians for reasons of their illegal and counter-revolutionary practices (i.e. collecting and sharing books absent from Cuba's officially endorsed library collection). Moreover, Kent is adamant in his condemnation of the American Library Association (ALA), the Canadian Librarian Association (CLA), and the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) for their refusal to publicly condemn Cuba's attacks on intellectual freedom, and Kent has cited such respected representatives of democracy as Noam Chomsky, Vaclav Havel, and Nat Hentoff (of the Village Voice) as supporters of his cause.

Ann Sparanese, an "activist librarian" from New Jersey, council member of the ALA's Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT), a 2003 New York Times "Librarian of the Year," and an outspoken defendant of Michael Moore's Stupid White Men (when censorship of its publication in North America was threatened), is contrarily at the forefront of negative responses to Kent's initiative. Not only does Sparanese prefer to cite Cuba's 98% literacy rate, but claims that the "librarians" in question are not librarians at all, but dissidents with ties to expatriated, monied Cubans living in the US. Furthermore, she accuses Kent, as well as the members of the "Independent Library Movement," of being illegitimate actors covertly funded by governmental organizations connected to the CIA. Sparanese sees Kent's activities as a continuation of the "Cold War" tactics of the US government in its objective to annex Cuba and remove Castro from power.