Cambodge aux livres

Nouvelles du Cambodge N° 0801

La bibliothèque Mark Twain de Long Beach cherche à acquérir des livres en langue cambodgienne

Khemara Jati
Montréal, Québec
Le 3 janvier 2008

Nous publions ci-dessous la première bonne nouvelle de l’année 2008. Elle vient des Etats-Unis. Une délégation de la bibliothèque Mark Twain de Long Beach (Los Angeles) va se rendre au Cambodge pour acquérir des livres en langue cambodgienne, pour elle et aussi pour les autres bibliothèques de Long Beach.

En achetant des livres publiés au Cambodge, en particulier des livres en langue cambodgienne, la bibliothèque Mark Twain d’une part donne de la valeur à la langue cambodgienne et d’autre part à tous les imprimeurs du Cambodge. Nous souhaitons à cette délégation beaucoup d’achats et de bonnes découvertes dont des dictionnaires et des grammaires. Nous souhaitons que cette délégation entre en relation avec nos universités en langue cambodgienne, en particulier la faculté de lettre pour encourager le corps enseignant et les étudiants à développer notre langue nationale, base de notre identité nationale. Nous souhaitons que cette visite marque le début des relations durables entre la bibliothèque de notre Faculté de lettre de Phnom Penh et la bibliothèque Mark Twain

Nous souhaitons que la bibliothèque Mark Twain encourage l’ouverture des écoles pour apprendre la langue cambodgienne aux jeunes cambodgiens pour les rendre fiers de l’héritage culturel légué par les bâtisseurs de la civilisation angkorienne.

Nous souhaitons que la bibliothèque Mark Twain ouvre une librairie consacrée aux livres, revues, DVD ou CD etc. imprimés au Cambodge et vendus à des prix raisonnables ; ou à ouvrir dans une librairie déjà existant un rayon pour des livres et autres matériels culturels venus du Cambodge. Nous souhaitons que la communauté cambodgienne de Long Beach prenne à cœur et participe activement à cette entreprise.

Nous savons qu’à Long Beach, avec des personnalités américaines, ont aidé Sophiline Cheam Shapiro à adapter la danse classique cambodgienne pour interpréter le célèbre et dernier opéra testament de Mozart « La Flutte Enchantée », composée quelques mois avant sa mort. Sophiline a pu produire cette adaptation, supervisée par le grand metteur en scène américain spécialiste de Mozart Peter Sellars, au Schlosstheater Schönbrunn (équivalent, à Vienne en Autriche du château de Versailles en France), du 9 au 13 décembre 2006, lors de la célébration du 250è anniversaire de la naissance de Mozart. Puis cette adaptation de ce célèbre opéra de Mozart vient d’être jouée à New York « Joyce Theater » à Manhattan du 9 au 14 octobre 2007.

Nous désirons aussi honorer la mémoire de l’Américaine d’origine suédoise, Ingrid Muan, qui a créé l’Institut Reyum et qui a donné un coup de fouet à la culture, à l’art et à la langue cambodgienne. Malheureusement elle était décédée d’une mort mystérieuse en 2005, à l’âge de 40 ans.

Nous souhaitons que d’autres bibliothèques américaines, en particulier la grande Bibliothèque du Congrès nous aident à développer la diffusion des livres en langue cambodgienne.

Nous souhaitons que la bibliothèque Mark Twain, nous aide à traduire en cambodgien et à publier des livres américains, en particulier les œuvres de Mark Twain.
L’amitié entre le Cambodge et les Etats-Unis d’Amérique se trouve renforcée durablement par ce lien culturel d’échange de connaissances littéraires.

Ci dessous le texte de l’article sur la délégation de la bibliothèque Mark Twain au Cambodge.

Annexes :

Library Staff On Mission In CambodiaBy Carla M. ColladoStaff Writer

Two Mark Twain Library staff members left for Cambodia yesterday (Wednesday), not for a vacation, but rather to buy Khmer books and materials for their library, as well as the rest of Long Beach’s public libraries.

The newly renovated Mark Twain Library — which opened in August 2007 — already has one of the largest Cambodian collections in the state. However, the library has been unable to purchase new books and materials for the past five years, as local and regional vendors’ supplies have depleted.

Susan Taylor and Lyda Thanh will visit the two Cambodian cities of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap until Jan. 15 to refresh the library’s collection. Taylor, who is the branch librarian at Mark Twain, will be in charge of selecting new materials for the children’s, teen and adult collections. Taylor said the Cambodian materials at Mark Twain always have been heavily used.

“We need more books!” Taylor said in a release. “We don’t want to lose any of our patrons because they have read everything in the collection and there is nothing new to entice them back to the library.”

Thanh is a homework helper at Mark Twain’s family learning center, and is also a Cambodian who speaks, reads and writes Khmer. She will facilitate purchasing decisions and cataloguing of the new materials during the trip.

“My father was a scholar, teacher and monk in Cambodia and taught me the value of language, learning and history,” Thanh said in a release. “I see the need of the students to have materials available in their families’ first language — these materials build bonds between children and parents, preserve cultural heritage and knowledge, and support English language acquisition.”

The Helen Fuller Cultural Carrousel, the Friends of the Long Beach Public Library, the Long Beach Public Library Foundation, the city of Long Beach and the local Cambodian community are all helping make the trip possible.

The Helen Fuller Cultural Carrousel will pay for Taylor’s and Thanh’s travel, lodging and miscellaneous expenses. The city of Long Beach will provide money to purchase the new Khmer materials (as part of the library’s general operating budget). The LBPLF will pay for Thanh’s homework helper position.

The Friends of the Long Beach Public Library and members of the local Cambodian community will help offset some of the travel costs and provide other in-kind support.

Cambodia by the book
12/30/2007
By Kelly Puente, Staff writer

Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)LONG BEACH - Mark Twain Library staff members Susan Taylor and Lyda Thanh were on a mission to buy more than 1,000 books in the Khmer language.

Sue Taylor, library supervisor at Mark Twain Library in Long Beach, above left, and Lyda Thanh, a library homework helper who speaks, reads and writes Khmer, prepare for their January trip to Cambodia to purchase books for the library s large Khmer collection. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)Sue Taylor, a library supervisor at Mark Twain Library, displays a book in Khmer. The library hopes to enlarge and update its Khmer-language collection. Long Beach is home to one of the world s largest Cambodian populations outside of Cambodia. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

COMMUNITY: Grants to finance library's search for, purchase of Khmer-language works. They scoured Long Beach's Cambodian markets, searched through Khmer Web sites and even called a publishing company in Cambodia.

"We tried everything," said Taylor, a library supervisor who began planning the project two years ago. "But all the Cambodian shops in Long Beach hadn't gotten anything new in the last five years. We'd exercised all our resources.

"The women discovered that the only way to find such a large quantity and variety of material was to travel to Cambodia and buy the books themselves.

On Wednesday, Taylor and Thanh will fly to Cambodia with a $20,000 grant to replenish the library's aging collection of books in Khmer, the country's official language.

Over the next two weeks, they will visit more than two dozen bookstores in the cities of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

Thanh, a homework helper in the library, speaks, reads and writes Khmer and will act as the purchaser. For the past seven years, she has been responsible for cataloging all the Cambodian books at Mark Twain.

Thanh plans to have the new books cataloged and ready by Cambodian New Year in April.

"It's going to be a lot of work but it will be so rewarding," said Thanh, 26, whose father was a Cambodian monk and scholar.

'A mega display'Long Beach is home to one of the world's largest populations of Cambodians outside of Cambodia.Mark Twain, at 1401 Anaheim St., sits in the heart of the city's newly designated "Cambodia Town," a stretch of restaurants and shops along Anaheim between Junipero and Atlantic Avenues.

"With the new Cambodia Town, the spotlight is going to be on us," said Taylor, an employee of the Long Beach Public Library system for 40 years. "Why can't Long Beach be the premier place for Cambodian books in the U.S.?

"Mark Twain, with 1,094 Khmer books, already has one of the largest collections of Cambodian material in the state. The library is hoping to double that collection.

"We want to have a mega display," Taylor said.The trip was made possible through grant money set aside five years ago when the city was planning the new Mark Twain Library, Taylor said. The Helen Fuller Cultural Carrousel, a committee of the Friends of Long Beach Public Library, will cover all the travel expenses.

Interest surgesSince its grand opening in August, Mark Twain, the city's first new library in more than three decades, has had 2,222 new library card holders, Taylor said.

The library has also seen a surge in circulation of Cambodian material.But many of the books are damaged after years of use, she said. The library has not purchased any new Cambodian books in the last five years.

Taylor and Thanh said they've carefully researched what books are in demand by looking through the library's computer system.

Cambodian history, customs, culture, folklore and children's stories are top on the list, Taylor said. "But we'd also love to get books like Anne Frank and Harry Potter, if they have it," she said.

Although they plan to buy mostly new material, they also hope to get some extra copies of old favorites.

One of the library's most popular Cambodian books is a fairy tale called, "The Beast of BongBot Forest," which has been checked out 53 times over the last five years.

Heavy loadLugging more than 1,000 books back to the U.S. will be a challenge, Taylor admits. The women plan to carry some on the plane and will possibly FedEx the rest.

The women said the reaction from the Cambodian community has been that of pride and excitement.

"People keep coming in and asking, 'Have you gone yet?"' Taylor said.

Thanh said the surge of books can help new Cambodian immigrants and will encourage young adults to get back in touch with their culture.

Parents will now have more options to read to their children in Khmer, she said.

"It really bridges the gap between generations.
"kelly.puente@presstelegram.com, (562) 499-1305

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