Exterior of the new Emmaus Library
Library interior
A library is more than a resource for books and the knowledge they offer. It is a depository of truth and provides a whole army of defense against misinformation. A library provides a plethora of information. The Greek proverb, “A library is a repository of medicine for the mind” encapsulates the idea in a more succinct manner.
Emmaus Spirituality Centre (ESC) has a new library! The library’s construction began in May and was finally completed in September 2019.
The newly constructed and soon-to-be-opened library not only brings wealth to the amphitheater of knowledge and information, it is also a work of aesthetic value and object of admiration on the grounds of the propaedeutic seminary, which is operated by the Zambian Sulpicians of the United States Province for the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The library, semi-operational at the moment, is already providing our mainly “fresher” students with free materials for study and research. That they do not need to go out and purchase copies in order to access information is a huge benefit to them. It helps to save valuable time that could be otherwise squandered scrounging around public libraries for information.
For our young men, the new library comes also with the obvious advantage of improving and enhancing their literacy skills. Our usual encouragement as faculty members is that reading is vital for future leaders. The library affords the seminarians an atmosphere that is suitable to augment a seemingly, and notably sad, growing obsession among modern youth who prefer accessing knowledge through the unrestrained resource of social media.
The library is located right next to the classroom ensuring a sense of open access. It is spacious enough to offer a somewhat free space for both study and in-depth academic research to our students as well as, from to time to time, seminarians from St. Dominic’s Major Seminary and other learning institutions. The large surface area of the library also means that it is able to accommodate a whole world of resources on various subjects ranging from ordinary reading and grammar books to highly scholarly and academic works on the spiritual life, theology, philosophy, history, and apologetics, as well as articles, magazines, and periodicals focusing on all sorts of topics.
Emmaus is indeed happy to have the library finally standing on its grounds – it is as beautiful as it is an arsenal of knowledge and liberty!
Fr. Neal Mulyata (Candidate)
Formation Faculty at Emmaus Spirituality Center