George Padmore Library needs urgent help – Librarian
The George Padmore Research Library of African Affairs has urged organisations and individuals who are passionate about building a progressive knowledge-based society to assist it to document and store its information in a conducive format and environment.
The Resident Librarian, Mr James K. Naabah, said the storage facilities were not enough for the numerous hardcopies of research work, stories and various newspapers that the library had to preserve for the use of today and posterity.
“The storage facilities are not accommodating us as they used to be, and the hard copies are deteriorating because the storage environment is not favorable,” Mr Naabah told the Ghana News Agency, in an interview.
Additionally, he said, GHȼ7,000.00 was required to fix the damaged desktop computers, scanning machines and photocopiers to enable the library to transfer information from hard copies to soft copies.
“In fact, the library is currently facing backwardness in the way information is stored,” he said.
Mr Naabah also said the research library which was offering its services free of charge to the public, required a special kind of lighting system and air conditioned room to prevent the hard copies from decaying.
He explained that too much sunlight during the hot weather caused easy deteriorating of the hard copies.
He described the library as a “last-stop” research library, saying it was being patronised by students from the various universities, professionals, including politicians and lawyers, and researchers across the world.
The library houses vital information on African Literature, History, Languages and Philosophy, among other subjects.
Mr Naabah said individual authors acquired their International Standard Book Number (ISBN); International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) and International Standard Magazine Number (ISMN) from the George Padmore Research Library.
The Library operates under the Ghana Library Authority.
The George Padmore Research Library was set up in June 1961 by Dr Kwame Nkrumah in memory of Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse, who changed his name to George Padmore when he became a champion of Pan Africanism.
Born June 28, 1903, in Trinidad, Padmore, was also a journalist, and an author.
He followed his Pan Africanism dreams to settle in Accra.
He died on September 23, 1959, in London from ill health. His ashes were, however, interred in Accra.
Source: GNA