LET'S PROTECT THE MEMORY OF THE SEA, SAVE THE BOOKS OF THE LIBRARY OF THE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE OF VENEZUELA

This project is titled: “ LET'S PROTECT THE MEMORY OF THE SEA, SAVE THE BOOKS OF THE LIBRARY OF THE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE OF VENEZUELA”

Its main goal is the rescue and protection of bibliographic material, from the only national library in Venezuela, specialized in Marine Sciences, world heritage.

The Oriente University was founded on November 21, 1958, by Decree No. 459 and with it, as its initial nucleus, the Oceanographic Institute of Venezuela (IOV) was a pioneer in the study of Marine Sciences.

To this Institute has attached the Dr. Rafael A. Curra Library, the only one in the country specialized in Marine Sciences, where knowledge of all the seas and oceans of the world is stored, with an important volume of unpublished works, which It has been developed in our Institution throughout its 60 years of history, which is currently unattended and vandalized.

                        Dr. Rafael A. Curra Library

Since mid-2018, the part of the Oriente University which is located Sucre, where the IOV and its library was established, has been suffering from strong attacks against its infrastructure and services, thus the entire university campus was left without telephony, and then without internet, to the point of lacking water and electricity due to the theft of wiring, water pumps and pipes.This led to many spaces being left unattended and vandalized, including the Venezuelan Oceanographic Institute and its Dr. Curra Library.

This is how the main entrance of the library looks like after being vandalized.

Since 2019, when the violent events against the infrastructure of our Institution were radicalized, the staff that works in it, the students and teachers have tried to keep safe the little that has remained untouched, like the bibliographic material, but it has been a tough fight. Everyday, usually at night time people steal and destroy the little is left, throwing and ruining books, magazines and theses, all of a scientific nature, The most recent vandalism event was the fire caused in the Library, where thousands of books were burned, an evil act that would remain engraved in our hearths

This library is specialized in sea subjects. La biblioteca Dr. Curra por ser especializada en temas marinos, It is much smaller than the central library, but the daily intrusion of people has it disorganized, stolen and destroyed inside.

     The insides of the Dr Curra Library.

Most of its furniture has been stolen and every day there is every time less, When it cannot be stolen they destroy it, the books are thrown to the floor and some have been destroyed.

The bibliographic material contained in our library is of utmost importance, it is the heritage of our University, the country and the world, for a long time it was the first in Latin America due to the completeness of its collections, being a frequent site of consultation for many researchers.

Interior area of ​​the IOV Library, Dr. Curra.

Currently, Venezuela is going through a strong economic, social and political crisis, from which our institution does not escape, which has led to the precariousness of our facilities. This is why we strongly ask for your help. Gathering enough financial aids it will allow us to afford the logistics to move all the material in the Library to a safe place.

      Interior area of ​​the IOV Library, Dr. Curra

We already have the place where all the bibliographic material contained in the IOV library will be safeguarded, cataloged and preserved, but we need financial resources to hire specialized technical personnel to help us do this important job.

Our institution has the support of its academic, administrative, worker and student personnel to do this delicate job; however, we have to hire staff and offer transportation, hydration and food, given the current situation in Venezuela, as well as the purchase of supplies and equipment, and additionally the costs of transportation to the storage location..

The time to recover and preserve our bibliographic material is being shortened, since the Central Library has been set on fire, we are extremely concerned and tied hands because we do not have the resources that allow us to protect this materials. Help us not to lose the memory of the sea, not to lose part of the effort that the IOV has made to study the seas of our eastern region of Venezuela. We are sure that when the winds of “change” blow strongly, we as an Institution will rise from the bottom where they left us, and with strength, to continue being the food for any student who is hungry for knowledge.

Jose Gregorio Nunez, Research professor

P.h.D from FURG, Brasil.

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