Meet an extraordinary man. Tadeusz Glowinski, or Teddy to his friends, lives in Poland in a pretty little town called Olesnica. Behind him, on his apartment wall, you can see a colourful map of the world. It's there because there isn't enough space for it in his library. On it, you will see all the places from which kind people have donated books for The Foreign Language Social Library section of Glowinski's Library; and illustrations (digitals and pictures) for its Gallery of World's Illustrations. Not only illustrators and writers are keen to send Teddy their work but librarians, publishers and kind-hearted folk around the world have contributed too. He's always looking for donations to help boost the library's shelves (especially if they're signed or dedicated).
Glowinski's Library
Teddy (67) began his library in 2000. Since then donors from 83 countries have sent him books as a result of masses of emails that he whizzes around the world, persuading people in the book world to send him their books. He's a visionary and single-minded. And he's dedicated to books and to the growth of his amazing library, ironically at a time when our libraries are closing down or morphing into coffee shops with books on the side.
A graduate in speciality librarianship and information science from the University of Wroclaw, Teddy worked as a teacher for many years before embarking on his life's project. He works in his library as an unpaid volunteer and the books are lent free of charge.
I would like to encourage those of you with a big heart to listen to his call and send what you can. Log on to the Glowinski Library website at http://glowinski.olesnica.pl/ and if you'd like to contact Teddy, his email is teddy@box43.pl or teddy@olesnica.pl
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