Where am I?

HOME
  • COMMENT Blogs
Times Online news blog

News Blog - Times Online - WBLG

« One for the diary | All Posts | Presiding over the airwaves »

October 17, 2006

Silence please, or else

Gitmo_libraryAre you creative, adaptable, ambitious and resourceful? Do you have an iron grip on the Dewey Decimal System? Are you eligible for US government secret clearance?

Then we might have found the job for you: running the "Detainee Library" at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Courtesy of FP Passport, the weblog of the magazine, Foreign Policy, we stumbled across this advert (only available cached) placed by Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions, a US civilian contractor based in Arlington, Virginia.

As the description runs: "In managing the Detainee Library, the Chief Librarian is responsible for providing, maintaining and developing library services and operations using reading, recreational games and puzzles, music, or electronic media. The Chief Librarian is responsible for selecting and maintaining a range of reading and recreational materials to reflect the needs of the patrons in terms of languages and appropriate / approved topics."

Patrons. Approved topics. This was the first we had heard of the Gitmo Library, where library fines are, presumably, the least of your problems.

But we found a couple of articles about the place, including this article in The World, a joint effort of the BBC and public broadcasters in the US.

Detainees can't come to the library but have books delivered to their cells. They can take books out for a week and Harry Potter, no surprise there, is a big favourite among the 400 prisoners. JK Rowling's series is available in seven languages.

We enjoyed this moment when The World journalist asked about legal text books or political texts:

"Aaahh law books," replies Lori, the librarian. "Well first of all, there's really no need for a law book here. I mean these guys are detained enemy combatants. We have an international right to detain people who were fighting against our coalition forces."

This AP story contained an interesting nugget that suggested that the Guantanamo Bay library has plans to grow, even if the rest of the world wants the place shut down. The facility tripled in size in May after a bulk purchase of Arabic, Urdu and Pashtun books, bringing the total to 4,200.

"We want to have 20,000 books within the next five years," said Army Lt. John Brown, a librarian. Five more years eh?

UPDATE: Put your CVs away. Just got a call back from Wala Ali, at Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions. The post is filled. Ms Ali said that Torres had between 8 to 10 applicants for the job and they ended up sending two librarians to Guantanamo, along with two teachers.

Posted by Times Online Newsdesk on October 17, 2006 at 06:35 PM | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear on this weblog until the author has approved them.

  • This blog is used to supplement our news coverage online, especially when we want to cover a live event, have some fun with video or links or just show you a nice picture

Latest Headlines

Contact Us

  • E-mail us
  • E-mail your pictures
  • MMS pictures +44 7834 885 058

RSS Feeds

  • Click for RSS 2.0 feed

three random posts

Recent Comments

  • Katie on Matt is back and he's still Dancing
  • Maggie on Matt is back and he's still Dancing
  • Ewan on Matt is back and he's still Dancing
  • Max Westphal on Coldplay: the song they didn't borrow?
  • Kevin on Matt is back and he's still Dancing
  • Mike Porter on Sheep in a snake
  • Matt on Matt is back and he's still Dancing
  • Michael on Matt is back and he's still Dancing
  • fallingleaf on Coldplay: the song they didn't borrow?
  • Jonathan on Matt is back and he's still Dancing

Audio and Video

  • News Extra: Audio & Video content from Times Online
        - iTunes feed

        - RSS feed
  • Times Online TV

Other Weblogs

  • Times Online Weblogs

Categories

  • Blair: the final day
  • From the newsdesk
  • From the picture desk
  • From the weblogs
  • Hugo tracks Gordon
  • Labour Party Conference
  • Lib Dem Party Conference
  • Oscars 2007
  • Party conferences
  • Tory Party Conference
  • US Midterms 2006

Recent Posts

  • Matt is back and he's still Dancing
  • Coldplay: the song they didn't borrow?

Archives

  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007

other times online blogs

  • Alpha Mummy

    BabyBarista

    Ariel Leve

    Big Brother

    Charles Bremner

    Comment Central

    Consumer Central

    Cricket

    David Aaronovitch

    Eco Worrier

    Fashion

    Formula One

    Gerard Baker

    India Knight

    Inside Iraq

    Irwin Stelzer

    Lord Rees-Mogg

    Mary Beard (TLS)

    Mick Smith

    Money

    News

    Rugby

    Sports Commentary

    Peter Stothard (TLS)

    Richard Lloyd Parry

    Ruth Gledhill

    Sinofile

    Sport

    Surf Nation

    Technology

    Travel

    Video