2005/04/08
Dear colleagues,
Here we are once again -back for our regular Friday date. Today we’ll comment a quote:
“The library is not a shrine for the worship of books. It is not a temple where literary incense must be burned or where one’s devotion to the bound book is expressed in ritual. A library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas -a place where history comes to life”.
~ Norman Cousins ~
Cited in ALA Bulletin, Oct. 1954, p. 475
Norman Cousins (1915-1990), writer, editor, citizen diplomat, promoter of holistic healing, and unflagging optimist. He is perhaps best known for his period as editor of the magazine Saturday Review and also for his activism in the peace and anti-nuclear movements.
http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/cousins.html
TRANSLATION
Estimados colegas,
Aquí estamos una vez más –de vuelta para nuestra usual cita de los viernes:
“La biblioteca no es un santuario para venerar libros. No es un templo donde deba quemarse el incienso literario o donde la devoción de uno hacia el libro encuadernado se exprese en un ritual. Una biblioteca, para adaptar la famosa metáfora de Sócrates, debería ser la sala de partos para el nacimiento de ideas -un lugar donde la historia se hace vida”.
~ Norman Cousins ~
Citado en ALA Bulletin, oct. 1954, p. 475
Norman Cousins (1915-1990), escritor, editor, embajador personal, promotor de curación holística, y optimista incansable. Quizá sea más conocido por su período como editor de la revista Saturday Review y también por su activismo en los movimientos pacifistas y anti-nucleares.
http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/cousins.html
La metáfora de Sócrates es la “mayéutica”, o arte de los partos, aplicada a las ideas. Un concepto muy importante para los que atendemos al público: saber hacer expresar los problemas de información a nuestros usuarios que muchas veces no saben cómo hacerlo.
We will only highlight two words used to describe Cousins:
Unflagging -normally employed in literary constructions rather than in daily use- means “incansable”, “infatigable”, “constante”. As you might imagine, the word flagging has the opposite meaning = desmadejado, flojo.
Citizen has the obvious meaning of a person from a given place (= ciudadano). But it can also be used -again, in literary expressions- to identify those who do not hold official governmental positions.
Therefore, the phrase citizen diplomat refers to Cousins’ work in contributing to good relations with people from other countries, without having an official role.
It also reminds us of Orson Welles’ film, Citizen Kane, about a man with enormous political power though without an official governmental role: The person represented by the fictional Kane was the journalist William Randolph Hearst, who is said to have influenced the outbreak of the Spanish-American war (1898) in order to sell more newspapers.
Luckily, Cousins’ efforts were aimed at more peaceful endeavours.
See you in Madrid at Fesabid 2005?
Alice & Tomà s
