Infantile and juvenile libraries, a contribution of Juana Manrique de Lara, first mexican librarian, to Vasconcelos’s librarian policy

Abstract

THE PAPER INTENDS TO LOCATE THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF JUANA MANRIQUE DE LARA, FIRST FORMAL MEXICAN LIBRARIAN, WITHIN THE LIBRARY POLICY OF JOSE VASCONCELOS AND THEREFORE GIVE HER THE PLACE SHE DESERVES IN THE HISTORY OF THE LIBRARY DEVELOMENT OF OUR COUNTRY IN THE LAST CENTURY. THIS PURPOSE LEADS TO RELATE MANRIQUE'S CONTRIBUTIONS WITH THE LIBRARY ADVANCES ACHIEVED DURING VASCONCELO'SS PERIOD IN THE CARRANZA'S GOVERNMENT. IT ALSO AIMS TO REVEAL THAT THE PROBLEM OF LIBRARY AT ATENTION TO CHILDREN AND YOUNGTERS, POINTED OUT BY MANRIQUE DE LARA TO VASCONCELOS SINCE OCTOBER 1921, WAS STILL IN FORCE. THIS BRINGS TO LIBRARIAN HISTORY GROUNDS A FACT WHICH IS LITTLE KNOWN: THAT IT WAS WOMAN LIBRARIAN WITH THE PERIOD OF PRESIDENT ALVARO OBREGON WHICH HAD JOSÉ VASCONCELOS AS HEAD OF THE PUBLIC EDUCATION MINISTRY (SEP), WHO CALLED THE ATTENTION ABOUT THE NEED THAT THE LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT POLICY SHOULD CONSIDER THE CREATION OF SPECIAL LIBRARY SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNGSTERS, FOR SUCH POPULATION WAS THE SEED TO CONFORM A READING SOCIETY WHICH WOULD USE THE LIBRARY FOR THE REST OF ITS LIFE. IN ORDER TO UP HOLD HER PROPOSAL JUANA MENTIONED THE BENEFITS THAT THE FOUNDATION OF INFANTILE AND JUVENILE LIBRARIES WOULD BRING TO THE MEXICAN SOCIETY, AND MAINTAINED THAT THE LEAST THAT COULD BE DONE WAS TO CREATE SECTIONS TO ATTEND TO SUCH POPULATION IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES FOUNDED IN THE FUTURE. WITH THAT PURPOSE IN MIND, JUANA MANRIQUE DE LARA DESIGNED A PROJECT FOR THE CREATION OF SUCH SERVICES AND POINTED OUT PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR THOSE TEACHERS WHO WOULD BE IN CHARGE OF PROPITIATING THE USE OF THE LIBRARY, SET THE PROFILE OF AN INFANTILE LIBRARIAN, UNDERLINED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RELATIONSHIP TEACHER- LIBRARIAN AND MADE EVIDENT THE INSUFFICIENCY REGARDING THE QUALITY OF THE LITERATURE EXISTING IN SPANISH, OR TRANSLATED INTO SPANISH, TO ATTEND SUCH POPULATION.