The first time I heard about Mang Hernando “Nanie” Guanlao’s house-cum-library, I knew I wanted to go there. One day, armed with a stack of books, a result of decluttering efforts, I Waze’d my way to Balagtas Street in Makati City, in search of the Reading Club 2000.
Unlike the usual libraries we know, Mang Nanie’s street library was totally different. In normal libraries, there are rules to follow. Here there were none. In fact, the books have no borrower cards. There is no card catalog. You like a book? You can bring it home and keep it. Normal libraries have operational hours. Mang Nanie’s library is open 24/7.
It all began in 2000. Mang Nanie was about to turn 50 but he found himself in midlife crisis. An accountant by profession, he found himself worrying about retirement as he was almost bankrupt. Wanting to honor the memory of his parents who, as government employees, were able to gift their children with education, he gathered whatever books he had around the house, only less than 50, and placed them outside with a sign that reading was free. The rest is history.
The library, actually a part of Mang Nanie’s home, was along Balagtas Street itself. I can’t help but think how fitting it was for this library to be located on a street named after a Filipino poet. The house was hard to miss. From afar, I already spotted the thousands of books facing the street, covered with transparent plastic to shelter them from the elements. A handwritten sign on the front of the house prominently announced “A good book is easy to find. FREE READING TO THE PUBLIC”. Old but still shiny CDs surrounded the sign, probably intended to easily catch the attention of passers-by.
Mang Nanie himself was standing right outside the house. I recognized him from pictures in past articles. I introduced myself and he welcomed me inside his home. As I walked in, both sides of the narrow entrance were stacked from floor to ceiling with books! I thought that, plus the stacks of books outside the house, comprised the entire library already till Mang Nanie motioned me to go up the stairs to the second floor.
What greeted me at the top of the stairs was a whole floor of even more books!
Mang Nanie told me that news of his street library has already spread (thanks to so many articles) and it was normal to see people from near and far coming by to drop off their books, encyclopedias, and textbooks. Encyclopedias and textbooks he receives get sent to schools that badly need them. Students have also been known to come to his place to read or to scrounge around in the hope of finding used textbooks they could use in school. His heart is especially with street children who have no opportunity to study.
Companies and civil service organizations have began partnering with the Reading Club 2000. Just scrolling through the Facebook page of the Reading Club 2000, I’ve seen Mang Nanie collaborate with institutions to bring his books to where street children usually hang out. Such events are often combined with a feeding program.
I did not come away from that visit to Mang Nanie’s empty-handed. He told me to pick any book I wanted. My eyes traveled all over the stacks of books but there were just too many to choose from. This required another visit, a longer one next time. But suddenly, right in front of me, a book stood out. It was an autobiography by Charo Santos-Concio “My Journey: The Story of an Unexpected Leader”. I told Mang Nanie that was the book I wanted.
I was destined to spot Charo’s book. Not many know that Charo and I were schoolmates in St. Paul College of Manila. She was in Mass Communications while I was in Accounting. I’m hoping to have some free time soon to pick up the book and get to know better the girl I used to see around campus in a white blouse, black necktie and black and white checkered skirt and who made it as President and Chief Content Officer of ABS-CBN.
As for Mang Nanie, he looked fulfilled to me. I believe his midlife crisis was simply the door to finding his true mission – bringing books to the children who need them most.
The success of Mang Nanie’s street library makes me wish that more people would emulate him and set up such reading libraries all over the country. Unlike developed countries where one can look with envy at their public libraries that are often modern, huge, and filled with updated books, ours are too few and pitiful-looking. I wish that one day, a sitting President will make education a priority and allocate much needed funds for such libraries to be built nationwide.
If you are reading this and you have books you no longer need (reference books, textbooks, children’s books, novels, nonfiction and fiction books, practically any kind of books), think of donating them to Mang Nanie’s Reading Club 2000.
You can find Mang Nanie at 1454 Balagtas Street, Barangay La Paz, Makati City.