The Christmas Tree Grown From Books



This is December, the month of Christmas when Christians celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. Soon, the evergreen fir tree or various imitations of it would become ubiquitous in our spaces, colourfully decorated in the spirit of Christmas. The decorated fir tree is one symbol of Christmas that is common to sight.

This December, at the Centre for Research Information, Management & Media Development (CRIMMD), Dr. Raphael James, the Director General has put up a different Christmas tree to celebrate the month. At the CRIMMD Free Public Library, it wasn’t a fir tree that rose with its needle-shaped leaves for the season but a book-tree, the tall paper trunk shimmering in colourful decoration.
 
Team Book-Tree
To add fun to reading at the public library and get a little creative with their heads and hands, Dr. Raphael James and five other staff got to work. Using 1,522 books, including 43 copies of 13 books published by him, it took them only 3 hours and 17 minutes to grow the Christmas book-tree. The book-tree collapsed twice before it stood straight the third time.
 
You aint as tall as me. 
Standing at 9.5 feet, the book-tree is tall enough for anyone to see it at the frontage of the library where it stood in its majesty. However, the reign of the Nine-footer book-tree lasted only seven hours at the 138 Ejigbo-Idimu road, Idimu, Lagos CRIMMD office before it was fell at dusk.

Absence of security and the unpredictable weather ensured that the unique and novel book-tree, arguably the first of its kind in Nigeria, stood for only that short span of time. For CRIMMD Free Public Library, the fruits of making this tree is to remind Nigerians to feast not only on food this Christmas but also on books.
 
Dr. Raphael James, D.G, CRIMMD

The CRIMMD FREE Public library was established in 2004 to provide free access to books and educational resources to the public. Staring with less than less than 100 books 13 years ago, the library today has over 40, 000 books. It has donated over 23, 000 books to NGO’s, Schools and Higher Institutions to enable them set up their own libraries. 

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