If it were not for benevolent librarians and volunteers, readers in Lithuania’s rural areas would have much less access to books.
Joana Burokienė works as a librarian in the village of Vadokliai, in the northern District of Panevėžys. While usually readers come to a library to take out a book, Joana mounts her bike and cycles to another village a few kilometres away with a bag of about ten books. The reader lives in a remote place and cannot come herself due to old age.
Whether it rains or snows, she always transports the books by bicycle. And she has been doing so for more than forty years.
Joana jokes that there is no such thing as bad weather or bad clothes. She always wears a dress, even though it’s not the most comfortable thing to wear on a bicycle.
“I don’t do athletics, I don’t do sports, I don’t jog, a job is a job,” smiles the librarian.
She knows every reader well, so she can pick herself what books they’ll like.
Vida Kielaitė, the recipient of the books Joana is bringing, says that if it weren’t for the librarian, she would not be able to read as much as she does now. She has difficulty walking because of her disability, does not own a car and cannot imagine life without reading.
“That would be bad. I would have to ask someone, other people, all the time to come to me, to pick me up, to take me, to bring me back, it would be a lot of trouble. But now it is very good,” says Vida.
The librarian delivers books to readers who live far from the library, to the elderly or disabled. She says it is important for her, too, that people continue to read books.
“Otherwise, people would be left with only a TV set between the four walls, because they can’t go anywhere, attend events because of health problems. They would be trapped in their homes,” says Joana.
“I come, I chat with them a bit, brighten their day. They need those books, they want to read,” she adds.
Joana visits six or seven readers a day, the rest of the time she works in the library.
Volunteer book carriers
In Biržai, librarians are assisted by volunteers who deliver books to people’s homes. One of them is Edita Aišparienė. She says she started volunteering in order to get people in rural areas to read more.
“There exists a book that can make anyone a reader. And I’m just trying to help make sure that this book does not pass people by,” she says.
The director of the Biržai Library says the help of volunteer book couriers is very important.
“We have 82 volunteer book carriers who serve about 150 readers. And, statistically speaking, almost 4,000 books were given out last year,” says Vilmantė Vorienė.
Libraries deliver books not only to readers who live in remote locations or cannot come for other reasons. They receive requests from Lithuanians who live abroad. For them, books are sent by courier services.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
