Books treasure at Tran Van Giau library
The French historian Voltaire once likened the knowledge from books to fire that, when transmitted, becomes the property of everyone. That is also the wish of the late Professor Tran Van Giau when he decided to present his own library to Long An province. Thanks to that, today's generation can inherit the treasure of precious history books.
Currently, readers can search for documents, books on history, geography, etc of Professor Tran Van Giau at his library, belonging to the Provincial Museum - Library at 26 Truong Cong Xuong Street, Ward 1, Tan An City. Readers can easily find the reading room of Tran Van Giau Library right in front of the campus. The library is only for on-site reading, not for borrowing. Therefore, every month, there are usually 15-16 readers who are pensioners, students, masters, doctorates, intellectuals, etc, who come to learn and research about history, philosophy and geography. From 2020, the provincial e-library was deployed to serve readers, meeting the needs of reading e-books, including books donated by the late Professor.
Tran Van Giau Library is only for on-site reading and researching
History professor, People's Teacher Tran Van Giau (1911-2010) was born and raised in Chau Thanh district, Long An province. With a career in education and research, he held the position of Honorary President of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Council of Social Sciences. During his life, he contributed over 150 works on history, philosophy, literature, etc and published many books in the country and abroad. In 2006, in a letter sent to the provincial Department of Culture and Information (Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism), the Professor expressed his decision to donate his own library to Long An province after his death.
Carrying out that will, on September 11, 2011, the Provincial Library received 2,893 books and a number of magazines from the late Professor's home to preserve and serve readers. The books are classified into 4 categories: Books written by the Professor; books donated by his teammates and friends; conference and seminar documents and works edited, collaborated, and censored by the Professor; theses and dissertation of his students under his guidance. Typical books were donated to the library such as "Long An's 21 years of fighting the US", "Following the bright path", "Long An archeology in the first AD centuries", "Memoirs of General Vo Nguyen Giap", etc.
As the time flies, the number of books had many changes compared to the original due to termites, damage or transferred to Professor Tran Van Giau Memorial House (An Luc Long commune, Chau Thanh district) with the quantity of 395 copies. In order to keep the books intact, the library focuses on preserving, cleaning, and spraying termites in batches. Librarian Le Thi Hong Gam said: “Every year, the library sprays termites twice for the bookstore to minimize damage. Every week, we also clean the dust and check the status of the book to promptly report and fix it."
Tran Van Giau Library is a familiar destination for many readers in researching the history of their homeland and country, thereby contributing to preserving and promoting reading culture./.
By Hoang Lan - Translated by Q. Thien
Source: https://baolongan.vn/kho-tang-sach-tai-thu-vien-tran-van-giau-a161394.html
