They were only eleven books, but the donation made by the Rotary Club to the Island Library has managed to bring together representatives of both institutions and even the president of the Cabildo, Inés Rojas, and the Minister of Education and Culture, Miguel González, who attended the press conference called to report on this delivery.
The jewel of the collection is a limited edition of Don Quixote, although a book by Belinda Washington, "The Pleasure of the Small Things", one by Aena, "Aeronautics of the island of Lanzarote", "True Assassin of Leandro Fajardo" or "The Church in the Canary Islands" were also part of the donated lot, among others. All copies, except Don Quixote, have a dedication from the author to the Rotary Club.
The Island Library has a permanent collection of 40,000 copies, recorded in different formats "such as dvd, cd-room, computer files, magazines, etc.", explains José Ramón Hernández, deputy director of the Library. "Of these 40,000, about 35,000 are books." The majority of them are acquired each year, according to the budget allocated to the institution, although others are part of donations. "The most common are from private individuals, from people who are leaving the island and who give us all their books," says Hernández.
Despite the importance of donations, these do not occur very often, "although they are usually very interesting, because they give us specialized books that are very difficult to obtain."
