Introduction

You are nearly there. Just a few more steps and you will be at the peak of Ideology. Our final guide is Larrain who will help you understand the essence of the Ideology library. On your journey you have learned that Management is important. And Leadership is vital. But Ideology is essential to grasping the realities of public libraries: why they were invented, who invented them and the class interests they were designed to serve. The Ideology library is alive and well in the socialist countries of Cuba, China, Vietnam and North Korea. I know this to be true because I have been to these places and seen the Ideology library in action. It is truly impressive. It is the highest stage of public library development. I am most familiar with the Cuban library system. I have visited Cuba many times and in 2002 I was awarded the Cuban Culture Medal (which is rarely given to non-Cubans) for my work in support of Cuban public libraries. The following year I was honoured to share a platform with Comrade Fidel Castro at the Third Cuban Cultural Congress held at the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana. The history of Cuban public libraries since the Triumph of the Revolution in January 1959 passed through all three key stages of development. Before the Revolution, Cuba had very few libraries. The Management libraries that existed were for the privileged and the rich. There were no libraries for the working class and the poor. This changed very quickly after the Triumph of the Revolution when Castro and the Communist Party of Cuba made Culture one of the Pillars of the Revolution, alongside socialised healthcare and education for all, free of charge.