“In spite of the bullets noise we are working for peace”: public libraries and construction of peace in Colombia

Abstract

In this article I intend to reflect on how Colombian public libraries managed to keep their doors open despite the existence of a war that affected the operation of state institutions and civil or ecclesiastical society organizations. Librarians seldom had to forcefully close the facilities of their libraries as these places did not become the targets of armed attacks. They did not receive orders, from those who held the power of violence, to suspend activities or reading programs developed in them and, different from works as teaching, journalism or community leadership, no statistics on persecution, threat or murder are known of librarians for performing their work. The armed did not perceive in the actions and programs that were undertaken from the public library any threat and, that could be, from the perspective of the librarians, one of the possible reasons why this entity of the Colombian State did not become a military objective but in a space for the construction of peace.