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IN CELEBRATION of the University of Guam’s 60th anniversary, the UOG Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Library compiled a list of 60 books that best represent the history, culture and traditions of Guam and the other islands in the Micronesia region.
UOG-RFK Librarian Paul Drake said the idea for the project came up when they were trying to think of an activity for UOG’s 60th year that would be appropriate for the library.
“We thought there are a lot of books out that people are not aware of and also some that they might want to highlight. We also want to have a community activity,” Drake added.
So in February of this year, the library requested the community to turn in possible book titles from Guam and across Micronesia. Once the nominees have been finalized, the library conducted online voting from March up to the first week of April.
More than 200 people from Guam, the nearby islands, and the U.S. mainland cast their vote.
One of the oldest titles included on the list was the “Useful Plants of the Island of Guam” by William Edwin Safford, botanist and former assistant governor of Guam. The book was first published in 1905 and reproduced in 2009.
Most of the books are in special collections and so people are not allowed to take them out of the library.
Now that the books have been identified, Drake thinks the library will try its best to acquire some of the titles on the list.
The complete annotated list can be downloaded at the UOG-RFK website. Some of the books are not yet available onsite, but a PDF copy of the “Useful Plants of the Island of Guam” can be downloaded at the University of California Digital Library.
