The Library at Guantanamo: 4200 Titles Under High Security

-- Library Journal, 10/5/2006

So here's the procedure at one of the most high-security libraries in the world, at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. According to the Associated Press, the 460 detainees can check out a book for a week but they can't go to the library, housed in a trailer. Instead the detainees—who are kept in small cells—must order the books. The collection now numbers about 4200—more than tripling since May after purchases made in the Detroit area, which has a large Muslim population. The detainees also are offered Korans to keep in their cells. The most popular nonfiction: philosophy, biographies, and Arabic. Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran is popular. As for fiction, top authors include Agatha Christie and J.K. Rowling.

It looks like the base will persist. "We want to have 20,000 books within the next five years," Army Lt. John Brown, a librarian, told the AP. How much can be read about U.S. policy toward detainees, however, is unclear. The AP reported that books have been used by detainees to pass messages to each other, so now returned books are checked and those who commit infractions lose library privileges for a week. A popular self-help book geared to Muslims, in Arabic and English, is called Don't Be Sad.