I was in Brampton, the Canadian city in Ontario’s Greater Toronto Area (GTA) recently. The trip was, more or less, a voyage of discovery. As a researcher, my original plan was to escape to Canada for some three to four weeks. Such a move, I felt, would afford me the opportunity to explore more extensively into my areas of research.
My researches in Literary Theory and Criticism as well as Female Writings have always taken me beyond our shores. From the early 1990s when my literary excursion into these areas of research began, North America has always been my destination of choice. Since Feminism, particularly is, first and foremost, a western phenomenon before its domestication in Africa as Womanism, you can hardly do justice to any literary inquiry on this subject matter without recourse to its latter-day mutations in America and, to some extent, Europe.
That was how my latest literary excursion to North America landed me in Brampton. As the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel, the city is one of GTA’s top spots of luxury homes with very rich neighborhoods. Nestled in the heart of the English countryside, the green city is adorned with an array of parklands, recreational amenities and sports fields, as well as open spaces and trails. One of the attractions of the area is its calm and peaceful environment.
Even though I witnessed all the serenity that Brampton offers and more, I did not have the time to explore. Rather, I preferred to occupy myself with a nobler engagement- reading- which, Francis Bacon tells us, makes a full man.
The fortress for this noble engagement was Brampton Library which has some ten branches across the city. Each of the branches boasts of thousands of square feet of natural-light-filled space suited for studying, relaxations, attending programmes and borrowing everything from books to bird kits. The Springdale branch was some five minutes walk from Nutwood Way where I stayed. The greater part of my stay in Brampton was spent visiting this library. I found every minute of my visit to the library refreshing. As a researcher in Nigeria, you sometimes get frustrated by dearth of research materials. This usually leads many a researcher in the country into turning out works that are clearly lacking in deep research and documentation. Significantly, Brampton offered me virtually everything I needed to enrich some of the researches that I am carrying out at this time. That singular access to the rich trove of that library is bound to enrich the quality of scholarship in my soon-to-be-published works.
Unlike here in Nigeria where the reading culture is at a very low ebb, Brampton leaves you with a clear impression about the values that the West still cherishes . The quest for knowledge is well valued in the West. Many researchers over there do a better job because the materials for such engagements are readily available. Their libraries are well visited because the people still recognize the value of reading and research.
My recent experience in Brampton teaches that libraries are not just infrastructural monuments in the West, they are a major component of the knowledge industry. Libraries over there are not just buildings where you walk into and consult books, there is a lot more you can do with them. The Brampton Library provides an array of programmes and ventures that expand the frontiers of learning. There is, for instance, a programme that brings together Tech lovers to celebrate cutting edge innovations. This involves connecting with tech organizations, and putting together workshops, activities and hands-on demonstrations that feature 3D printing, drones, rapid manufacturing, robots, coding and software, among others. There are also programmes that challenge College and University students in their academic journey. For instance, there is a programme that brings representatives from colleges and universities across Ontario to visit the library to answer questions and share the steps involved in planning their academic journey. There is quite a lot more. With programmes such as these, libraries are made to go beyond their traditional conception of edifices that house books for reading and research. Libraries are doing much more and this is largely because the society and its systems recognize the centrality of learning in every human endeavour. The emphasis is on skills acquisition. No matter your area of focus in the classroom, you are intentionally taken out of your core area. You are encouraged to learn skills that ordinarily fall outside your original field of study. The overall objective is to give those concerned a well-rounded education that promotes self- reliance.
This contrasts sharply with what obtains in Nigeria. Our libraries, where they still exist, are dead zones. Most of the books on their shelves are obsolete. There are no new publications coming from anywhere. Even those employed to work in the libraries have lost touch with modern trends. Here as well, education is viewed with derision. Most Nigerian children are suspicious of education. They do not believe that it can take them to where they want to be. Many go to school these days just to fill a gap. Their imaginations are constructing something else. That is why we now hear people say that education is a scam, meaning that the time you spend trying to obtain certificates or degrees is a wasted one. The emphasis here is quick wealth , not knowledge acquisition. Little wonder that our country is on a steady regress.
I recall that I expressed this concern about the death of the reading culture in Nigeria during the public presentation of my third book four years ago. I had said on that occasion that what I seek is to find and cultivate full men who, through reading, will help in our quest to enthrone a knowledge-driven society.
I also noted in the course of my remarks on that occasion that my greatest pull at moment revolves around writing and publishing. This commitment has not changed. I have continued to work towards taking my academic engagements a notch higher. This has informed my setting up of a Literacy Foundation. This declaration which I made four years ago is part of what compelled my recent intellectual excursion to Canada. My researches and publications remain the launch pad in my effort to help in the revival of the reading culture in Nigeria. My preoccupation, in the years ahead, will continue to revolve around tackling the cankerworm of poor reading culture. By doing this, I will be searching, not for the ready man or the exact man in the way Bacon packaged them. Rather, I will be searching for a full man who will make reading a cardinal principle in our everyday life.
QUOTE:
“My recent experience in Brampton teaches that libraries are not just infrastructural monuments in the West, they are a major component of the knowledge industry…The Brampton Library provides an array of programmes and ventures that expand the frontiers of learning”.
