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.
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.
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.
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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