Visit to Havana 7-14 May 2006
Objectives

To familiarise myself with the Biblioteca Nacional ‘Jose Marti’, and other heritage/archival organisations ( the National Archives, Records Management Centre of the Education Ministry and possibly the Radio Archives) and to advise on the way forward for its digitisation plans in the context of the technological and societal circumstances prevailing. To visit the ‘mapoteca’ for my own research into the early history of cartography, part of my Leverhulme research.

To meet Jorge Luis Timoneda Alonso, Dirección de Relaciones Internacionales, Ministerio de Educación Superior, to talk about the role of the ALFA programme and the London Metropolitan University and the University of Havana with a view to exploring the opportunities for Caribbean Studies using the collections of the National Library in digital form) e.g. Newspapers.

Thanks

I would like to thank the Director of the Biblioteca Nacional, Dr Eliades I Acosta Matos and all his staff who agreed to arrange the visit, meet me and to show me around and to discuss the issues facing the library and archive community in Cuba as well as its strengths of organisation and knowledgeable staff. I was also pleased to meet the Dr Miguel Angel Ferrer Lopez, Director of the Centro de Informacion para la Educación (ministry of Education) and the Vice - Director of the Archivo Nacional Dr Jorge Macle. I was also pleased to discuss the role of Higher Education in Cuba with Jorge Luis Timoneda Alonso and his colleague Ricardo Fundora Pineyro in respect of opportunities for collaboration with the National library and continuing collaboration with the London Metropolitan University in London as noted above. I regret that there was, in the event, no opportunity to visit the Radio archives, which are an integral part of the national heritage.

The Visit

Monday 8 May I met with Marcia Medina Cruzata (Subdirectora for Promotion and Development (marciam@bnjm.cu) and Yolanda Nunez, (relacint@bnjm.cu) First Specialist, International Relations who were very welcoming and gave me an overview of the Library and its role. They were also responsible for the arrangements for my visit and I thank them personally for their help. I was shown round the reading rooms of the Library. I was assigned a very helpful translator, Juan Carlos Fernandez Borroto.

Description of the library and its role (see scanned photograph below )

The library building was erected in 1958 on this site. All the books from 1998 onwards are in the online catalogue, but the earlier material remains on catalogue cards and amounts to about 4,000,000 items. The cataloguing of the special collections continues e.g. the ‘mapoteca’ is inputting its collections on to the system.

The Library is very active in all literary and public reading programmes, as I would expect, and sets standards and co-ordinates the library system across the country. It runs a national competition ‘Puertas de Espejos which is for people’s favourite authors. The award is decided on 7 June which is Libraries Day. There is also the award ‘Raul Ferrer’ for librarians or other outstanding people involved in promoting reading. This award is given on 23 April each year coinciding with the World Day of the Book and the annual reading event at Marti ( Leer a Marti). This is a week of events for everyone to visit the library

It also runs Club Minerva which serves workers, students and house wives so that they can borrow books and participate in book events in libraries in the larger towns. It also runs a reading programme for children from age 4-12, Sala Infantil y Juvenil ‘Eliseo Diego’ (founded in 1959. For children of 2-4 years there is a reading and activity room which has events on Thursdays.

There is also a fine reading room for blind, deaf and other handicapped readers (Sala Frank Emilio) with some very accessible equipment for the readers sponsored by Spain.

Collections of the Library

The Cuban collection

This collection comprises 14,000 books prior to the 20^th century and includes the bibliography of Apóstol in about 1000 parts.

Serials

The library has 8920 titles of periodicals, magazines, and monograph series and some foreign serials.

Rare Books

18 incunables from the 15^th century – 18^th centuries including a nucleus of Cuban ‘tesoros’, treasures. It also includes the ‘Collection Raventos’ of valuable music books 15-18^th century and the Special Collection of 19^th and 20^th century books ( some 2000) beautifully illustrated or having some other particular significance which makes them exceptionally important.

National Deposit Library

Since 1948 the library has received all published items from the nation’s publishers. This now includes CD-ROMs, diskettes, videos and other analogue and digital materials in non-book form. All these require good climate conditions and the Library has a programme for improvement in this area and keeps the items in suitable air-conditioned areas. The library also holds international published material from the United Nations e.g. OIEA, FAO, UNESCO.

Manuscripts

This collection is formed from donations from distinguished Cuban historians, scientists, literary figures and institutions like The Economics Society of Friends of the Country. In the collections are to be found the works of Cuban intellectuals Antonio Bachiller y Morales, Vidal Morales y Morales, et al. Also Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Jose Maria Heredia et al. others have given their works to the library while living e.g. Roberto Fernandez Retamar and Cintio Vitier.

Mapoteca (mapas@bnjm.cu)

One of the most important collections for Cuba and for Latin America. 25,000 maps, plans and nautical charts and it includes the maps of Havana since 1615 and the large scale 1875 map of the whole island in 75 sheets by ‘la Base topográfica de Cuba’, autor Esteban Pichardo.

There are also numerous engravings from the 17^th – 20^th centuries by such artists as Frederico Miahle and Eduardo Laplante. There are more than 100,000 photographs. The most famous of the collections is that of Generoso Funcasta whose photographs appeared in publications 1920-1960 and those showing the musicians of Cuba.

Digital Laboratory

I visited the Digital Laboratory which is similar to the department of ‘Online Services’ in other organisations and which produces the website, the digitisation of the collections, especially ‘Clásicos Cubanos’ and holds and maintains all the databases for the catalogues and the other materials, since 2000.

The description of all its services are included in the pamphlet ‘Política y Objetivos del Laboratorio Digital’ see above)

There are 6 professionals at present, 3 maintain the databases and the website and

three others deal with selecting and digitising materials for the Library and developing a portal across other institutions. This latter programme is called http://binanet.bnjm.cu. and is designed to allow for the searching of all the library holdings in the country. This is led by the Library. (I also learnt later that the National Archives is intending to lead in a similar way but is not so far advanced. It has a promotional CD-Rom of its collections) The BINANET portal will eventually be transformed into a more sophisticated search tool by means of the Z.39.50 protocol which will enable searching across all the catalogues concerned rather than the users having to go to each catalogue separately from the portal.

Recommendation 1

The Library needs to keep abreast of further developments in this area world-wide

The website (for the National Library itself) already has ordering and facilities for donors via e-mail. It is available in an English version as well, and is a well-designed and an informative site; it has a ‘running’ news slot as well as the usual facilities for the users; it reflects very well on the work of the Library ‘out there’ in the community. The Library also features on the ‘Las bibliotecas del tercer mundo’ website.

Technically the website is held on the Ministry of Culture’s web server and is mirrored in Canada. The bandwidth can be enlarged as traffic increases, but there are issues over this and over internet connectivity, which inevitably constrains their activities. At present they estimate that the website receives about 44,000 visits a month. It is about 530,000 a year and they hope to answer enquiries in 48 hours.

An important aspect for my visit to the Library is the work for the programme Clásicos Cubanos, which is supported by three people in the Digital Laboratory. They put onto the website, works by Cuban authors by epoch based on the proposals of academics in Higher Education, and those from readers. The objective is to make available, in transcript form, essential Cuban literature for downloading and printing etc. for teaching, research etc. The literature so transcribed is out of copyright.

Recommendation 2

The Library may wish to consider re-naming this Digital Laboratory ‘Online Services’ as it is already providing online services and requires developing in this area to allow for (1) the future preservation of the collections and (2) the access to the collections online, or by printing copies from down-loads etc when the material is out of copyright, or otherwise allowed by the publishers or authors, for the schools and universities. Here, I am thinking about schools, polytechnics and universities which may not have the materials or books in their libraries and require this resource.

There are, however, two other professional aspects which could improve this online service:

Recommendation 3

It would be best to digitise extracts of the work in facsimile to give a ‘feel’ of the original and, more importantly, add a citation at the end of the transcript informing the readers which edition, date etc, the transcript has come from. This confirms the ‘authenticity’ of the transcript from the Jose Marti Library.

Recommendation 4

In ‘Google’ terms the Library needs to make sure the ‘Biblioteca’ is amongst the first hits for Cuban literature: this requires ‘weighting’ techniques to be applied.

Recommendation 5

If not already the case, it would be sensible to make sure that the schools, polytechnics and universities in Cuba are aware of this new service by promoting it as a new service, and to make sure they know how to use it and for the Library to gather useful statistics for the promotion of the Library.

In some cases an item has been digitised in facsimile and it is made available to Higher Education colleagues and students and also in the Reading Rooms as a ‘special product’ CD-ROM of the Digital Laboratory or as a commercial product. But the problem then arises that there is a lack of mechanical readers for both microfilm and CDs in the Library.

Recommendation 6

The Library should acquire some more mechanical readers for microfilm and for digital products e.g. DVD players and monitors

In so far as there is any commercialisation of products from the Library this is dealt with by the Ministry of Culture; some income comes to the Library in addition to the funding it receives from Government but, in view of the work to be done, this is unfortunately unlikely to be enough.

The Newspapers

Periodicals are part of the development plans of the Library and are included in the priorities of the ABINIA (Association of National Libraries of America) which has as one of its objectives the rescue of the Ibero-American press of the 19^th century. In Cuba the newspapers play a very special part of the country’s history (see the scanned attachment about the priorities of the Digital laboratory). The newspapers are often in a very critical condition from 18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries (see attached scans from the collections in the Biblioteca Nacional which show this deteriorating condition). This is not unusual for Newspaper collections and many Libraries and Archives have experience of dealing with the problem to a greater or lesser extent. In my experience it always needs additional financial help and depending on the circumstances collaboration between the holding institutions to make the most cost-effective solution.

Information in the form of the newspaper titles of the country have been collected and are on the BINANET database which lists the holdings of the Library, the National Archives and the National Information Centre for Education. This is thought to be the definitive national listing of all newspaper titles. The issue is how to preserve the originals (if possible), keep a long term copy and make them available for readers over the web or in CD Rom in the reading Rooms and elsewhere. They are very popular items for reading in the reading rooms. Because of the acidity in the paper and the climate the newspapers in storage and in use to the readers are rapidly falling apart, even those from the 1960s and 1970s.

Recommendation 7

It is probably best to follow the experience elsewhere and this has been to establish a national plan to preserve the newspapers and make them available (see the British Library article on digitisation of newspapers attached, only in the e-mail version).

Recommendation 8

In terms of preservation, Microfilm first is probably safest, then put the newspapers somewhere very cold according the standard BS 5454, 2000 recommendations, then digitise from roll film. If this is not possible now, given the financial and other constraints, then scan the newspapers for reader use and store the originals according to BS 5454.But this will still require mechanical readers in the Reading Rooms.

Recommendation 8

Acquire more mechanical microfilm readers and digital readers e.g. DVD players and monitors.

A recent advisory note provided by the UK Panel on the microfilming and digitisation of newspapers provided to me by the Head of the Newspaper Library in the British Library, Edward King, who is secretary to the UK Panel gives the following advice:

‘Negative microfilm

1.1 First generation (master) negative microfilm is the principal microfilm archive copy. A duplicate negative microfilm should be made from the master negative. Each set should be stored in separate buildings under controlled conditions, and in conformity with:

B.S.1153:1992 Recommendations for processing and storage of silver gelatine type microfilm

and BS 5454: 2000 Recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents.

1.2 The investment made by organisations in making two copies of negative microfilm (a master and a duplicate) requires regular monitoring of the storage conditions, to ensure maximum longevity for the microfilm. If this work cannot be done in-house by conservation staff, then investigation of suitable conservation organisations will need to be made to provide a service to do this.

1.3 Remedial action should be undertaken as necessary to protect the long term investment to ensure that film can be copied in future without loss of text.

1.4 The National Preservation Office Guide to Preservation Microfilming [UK] provides guidance on best practice in all aspects of preservation microfilming.

1.5 Where the master (and duplicate) negative microfilm has been made by a national library, this fact should be recorded. Across the country.

1.6 Negative microfilm(with master and duplicate) made by a national library may be assumed to be retained permanently in appropriate storage conditions.

2. Hard copy original newspapers

2.1 The four national libraries, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, and the National Library of Ireland are all committed to the permanent retention of newspapers published in their area of responsibility. [The paragraphs 2.2 – 2.9] are not relevant to the circumstances of Cuba]

But 2.10 is very important.

Storage conditions for hard copy original newspapers should conform with the Standard B. S. 5454 : 2000 Recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents. Newspaper volumes should be stored flat. The standard applies to newspapers whose paper condition ranges from very poor to good. The aim is to secure storage conditions that are stable, within the ranges stated in the standard, thus slowing the rate of degradation of the paper.

2.11 Where positive microfilm exists locally for original newspapers, the originals should not be used by the public.’

This advice is, of course, appropriate to any of the organisations holding newspapers in Cuba, but there may not be the means to do all of this at present.

Records management and archives

I also visited the Records Management store of the Education Ministry. There I met the Director Miguel Angel Ferrer who explained the present initiative to produce a records scheduling and work programme for the Ministry (and perhaps in the future for the other ministries) at national level. In Education the system is based on open software ISIS from UNESCO, which is like the Access software programme, and thus is easy to use but they have had to programme it themselves.

The objective of the new system of records management is to be able to search the files for such matters as evaluation of the teachers etc. To QA the work done and to make sure the work of the records managers /assistants is ok at central, municipal and organisational levels. They have had visits from experts from England and Estonia in this matter. As far as I could tell, although the system is very large, they have the relevant personnel i.e. I was told there were 270 workplaces and they have technicians for the system from Higher Education.

Physical storage in records management remains a real problem, but the paper the archives are written on is good (up to 1945) and only staff have access to them so they are in good condition relatively speaking.

As a result of this initiative on the part of the ministry there is a new technological course for students set up by the Education Ministry and SIGMA (Science Ministry). This is a four year course for basic technical instruction in the polytechnics of the country so that the student can be educated in a library or archive school as is normally the case but there are also places for those who wish to go on to learn conservation/preservation, informatics and reading handwriting at the polytechnics. The graduates will be able to have a job in the network across the country. Students of the age of 14 can take this path with two years of general education and then two specialised years.

This approach is similar to ones elsewhere and should make a difference to the skills set of the staff in the future.

I also visited the grand National Archives building and met with the vice director Jorge Macle who explained the present situation, where the readers were not used to using online and digital access, but he believed , demand elsewhere for materials online was great. There were, however, little immediate prospects. They had received a microfilm camera which had worked for 10 years or so and they had microfilmed a lot of material for preservation reasons.

They were very happy to collaborate with the Library over questions of progress in the digitisation matters and could be considered as partners for a project on the newspapers or in developing websites.

Recommendation 9

In respect of conservation/preservation and digital developments the Library and the Archives could profitably collaborate

Preservation

The preservation /conservation services of the Library are being rebuilt at present with government funding but the matter is urgent in respect of the condition of the material.

Recommendation 10

It is clear some essential equipment will be needed to deal with the newspaper heritage as noted above, because of its condition.

In respect of this an up-to-date camera for microfilming and an AO or A2 scanner and associated equipment will be necessary to preserve this part of Cuban heritage, if it is not to be irrevocably lost.

The number of newspaper titles is about 25 for the first half of the 20^th century and earlier according to the list provided in the Digital Laboratory pamphlet (see beside) but the quantity of issues involved is uncertain but must be in the region 60 years’ worth of newspapers both daily and weekly for the period 1900-1960. This could be perhaps 500,000 issues of varying sizes, depending upon the rate of issue per week). The later newspapers (1970s and 1980s) are also deteriorating and in some cases are bound into guards, which have obscured the central gutters (i.e. would be difficult to film or scan), although the bindings have improved the preservation of these newspapers. The presence of some of the newspapers in other countries’ collections in normally incomplete runs is also clear. But the British Library, for example, does not hold all the newspapers listed as being in the Biblioteca Nacional nor does, again for example, a specialist collection at Nottingham University which holds ‘runs’ of ‘Granma’ and ‘Revolución’ but these are incomplete.

Where there are other collections these could of course provide copies for the Biblioteca Nacional either in microfilm or in digital form if funding were forth coming for use in the library and elsewhere. But his would not deal with the preservation of the originals in Cuba as part of its national heritage.

The major issue remains that the storage itself is not air-conditioned so the original material deteriorates even if it is conserved; this is evidently the case with newspapers and maps.

Recommendation 11

It is essential that the most endangered material is microfilmed/digitised quickly or copies obtained from elsewhere, as it is already at risk of self-destruction. The material should be put in a cold environment to stabilise it and readers should be asked to use the microfilm/digital copies. This is the best way forward, if at all possible, for the newspapers, and other material like maps, where the acidity is very great and is visibly destroying the paper when used by the readers. Delay will cause irrevocable destruction of part of Cuba’s national heritage.

Professional information

The National Archives in London currently film and scan using a Wicks and Wilson Roll film Scanstation RS325 (www.wwl.co.uk). The details are on the website. If the solution being discussed in Cuba is to scan and output onto film then a useful contact is Aly Conteh, digitisation programme manager at the British Library (Aly.Conteh@bl.uk). The digital scanner used by the National Archives in London for scanning directly from its documents is made by Zeutschel ( 10000TT) and can deal with documents and books up to A2 format. Information about the scanner and information on work flow etc was given to colleagues in the Digital Laboratory for their internal consideration. Information on process, prices etc for this scanner is on the website www.zeutschel.com and on the English agent’s website (www.best-tec.ltd.uk).I understand from Zeutschel Headquarters in Germany that there are agents for Zeutschel in Cuba. They are

EKINSA

Att Eduardo Montes de Sande.

Att. Gabriel Fernandez Wong

Att Marlene Barberá

Calle 3ª, esquina 82, 3ª planta

Oficina 308-B

Edificio Jerusalen, Miramar Playa

Habana, Cuba

A Roberto L Sanchez Chemersa ( who informs me he is an agent for Spain and Cuba) has also e-mailed me subsequently to offer his services (roberto@chemersa.com). I am not acquainted with him but colleagues in the Biblioteca Nacional may know of him?

Obviously Zeutschel are not the only equipment providers ( Kodak is another supplier),but the necessity for a microfilm camera for large format material, a roll film scanner and/or and a digital scanner for original documents or some combination of the two is necessary to deal with the newspapers. Mechanical or digital readers will be also be necessary if users are to be able to see the microfilms or digital images in the Reading Rooms. Storage will need to be improved and monitored.

Recommendation 12Funding and other options

Although some technical and other possibilities are noted above the outstanding issue remains that of funding. The organisational and technical skills of the staff of the Digital Laboratory are such that they are clearly capable of producing good quality work and have done so, but to develop further some investment ( and no doubt organisational changes) will have to be made.

Practical proposals

1. Monitors of climate can be provided and acid free folders ( UK colleagues to arrange)

2. Endangered Archives Trust (run by the BL) welcomes applications from collections where they are endangered. In my view the newspapers are endangered and meet the requirements of the Trustees and could be a source of funding for the Library in this programme. If Proposal form is completed as suggested then I will undertake to assist in London so that the proposal is at least considered by the Trustees. Their decision on the matter will of course be final but this option is worth exploring.

3 There is great interest in Caribbean Studies in London (and elsewhere, of course) and as a governor of London Metropolitan University I have discussed with them and am prepared to follow up any considerations to see if the ALFA programme, perhaps with the University of Havana, as discussed with Dr Jorge Timoneda, would be an appropriate network for the digitisation of some of the newspapers or other heritage material for courses in London. This would mean that more newspapers could be digitised for these courses, with a grant for the library to do the work necessary. I received confirmation of the Ministry of Education’s support if the Universities of Havana and of London Metropolitan think it sensible to agree a project for the newspapers to be used in their courses and are prepared if it is possible to apply to the ALFA programme. This needs to be considered more carefully than I have had time so far and relies upon the views of the universities who may wish to be involved or not.

My final and great thanks go to William Edmundson and his colleagues at the British Council offices in Havana who were instrumental in arranging this visit and provided support while I was there.

This report is for the Director of National Library in Cuba and is copied to those, in so far as I am able, who contributed to the preparation of the visit including colleagues at London Metropolitan University in London and colleagues in the British library and the National Archives in London. Any mistakes are my own and comments and offers of assistance are welcome to my e-mail address styacke@blueyonder.co.uk.

Sarah Tyacke

London 22 May 2006

www.sarahtyacke.com