The passing of Vincent Kolbe - a legend in the library world (update).
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Vincent Kolbe, librarian, jazz artist, political activist, passed away on Friday 3rd September 2010, reports Bush Radio.
From the obituary in the Times (19 Sept 2010):
He was also an inspiring and influential librarian who fought for public libraries in the coloured townships of the Cape Flats to remain open during the worst days of the "unrest" in the '70s and '80s.
He saw libraries as a crucial line of defence against the spiritually and intellectually stifling regime.<snip from an article "Librarians and Readers in the South African Struggle" by Archie L Dick >
The librarian, Vincent Kolbe, grew up in this Cape library tradition and used the library in Bonteheuwel and Kensington townships as a marketplace for ideas and opinions in the 1980s. The library was a contested but shared space so that young people debated and discussed alternative strategies at meetings held in the library. These meetings were usually held under the guise of ‘the chess club’, ‘the dove club’ or the ‘cultural society’. A young Trevor Manuel, who is South Africa’s Minister of Finance today, was a member of one such reading group at Kensington public library. There is a rumour circulating that he still has outstanding fines for overdue books there.
Rest in Peace.