Interview With Sylva

Sylva Natalie Manoogian holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Classics from Radcliffe College (1959) and a Master’s of Library Science from the University of Southern California (1968).  She is currently in the doctoral program in Information Studies at UCLA.

During her undergraduate years, when worked as a student assistant at Harvard University’s Widener Library, recataloging the Armenian language collection.  This, together with her passion for languages and literature, set the path for her future career in the field of library and information science.  Her global linkages as a library professional began in 1964 at the Los Angeles Public Library, the third largest library in the United States.  In April 1999, she retired from 37 years of active Los Angeles City service, to devote full time to Armenian library projects world-wide, and to write the definitive biography of her illustrious father, Shahan Natalie.

Ms. Manoogian has been an active member of the American and California Library Associations since 1968, and a honorary lifetime member of the Library Association of Armenia for championing its establishment in 1994.  She has numerous published articles on international librarianship and Armenian culture and heritage to her credit.

For her numerous contributions to multilingual library services she has received several prestigious awards, among them the American Library Association’s Leonard Wertheimer Award,  a Women of Achievement Award at the First Armenian International Women’s Association Conference in London in 1994, and the Hagop Meghabard Medal from the National Library of Armenia the same year.

She has collaborated with the National Library of Armenia on several projects, and was a member of an American Library association delegation participating in two South Caucasus Library Symposia (Tblisi, 2001; Erevan, 2002).  A the Library Project Director for the revitalization, virtualization, and internationalization of the Calouste Gulbenkian Library of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem,  she has visited the Holy City ten times since 1995.  She is currently serving as the Armenian Church Western Diocesan Library Project coordinator.

I truly think I was born with a book in my hand, I really do.  My parents encouraged me from very early on to be a reader and to learn many languages, because for every language you learn, you become a whole new person. I remember when my father took me to our local library back in Boston, where we borrowed the first English book I ever read, which was called Tales of Many Lambs, and it was a book of folk tales. When I think about it now, I think it was very wise because my father wanted me not only to appreciate the English language but also wanted me to understand that literature is something that belongs to everyone, not only us.

My life started with books and because of the knowledge I have gained from the books and the ideas I have found influenced my decisions I made during my life as a teenager, as a young adult, to an adult and to this day every time I read a new book, it gives me ideas to think about and it gives me encouragement to make ideas for myself.

I am who I am today because of the great impact literature has had on me.

Books have had different forms over the centuries starting with stone carvings, books out of stone, which started back in Egypt.  When writing was invented in China, books were written on rice paper, not for regular books of course, but for special things.  Egyptians used leaves for writings and the Armenians also had their stone tablets. The Armenian alphabet was invented in the 5^th century by a monk Mesrop Mashdots with the express purpose of translating scriptures in the Armenian language using their own alphabet.  We started a long tradition of Armenian manuscripts. Now again, I wasn’t born in the 5^th century, however, I had the privilege of not only seeing these manuscripts in Armenia at the “Matenadaran” which has the largest collection of Armenian manuscripts; but as well as in Jerusalem at the Armenian Patriot Arcade which has the second largest collection of Armenian manuscripts.  I feel very privileged that I have been given the opportunity to have books in my life because I cannot imagine not having them.

I love computers! I work with computers all the time and I find it remarkable and amazing that we have the ability to communicate with anyone through the computer.  

Sometimes changes are for the better; sometimes changes are for the worst.  Sometimes it’s not about an absolute change.  Sometimes you have to maintain a balance between different formats of change.  For example, I don’t take my computer to bed to read, I take my book to bed.   I actually like holding a book in my hand and there is a reason for this.  Skin of sheep, skin of calf, and your hands have lanolin and when the skin comes off that animal, it no longer produces lanolin. The leather binding of a book needs to keep getting lanolin in order to keep the leather soft. Therefore, holding a book, transfers the lanolin that is produced in your hands onto the binding of the book which keeps the binding pliable. 

Some of the fragments that have come down to us are date to the 5^th century and after that when printing was invented. The earliest Armenian book printed was in the year 1512 and was titled “The Friday Book.”  There is not that many copies of that book.  There is one at the “Matenadaran” in Armenia, one in National Library of Armenia, and a copy in Jerusalem.  The books that are written between the years 1512  and 1850 are considered as “henadeep” books, which is translated as ancient books.

About twenty years ago at the Los Angeles Public Library where I would provide my services, there was a fire and many of our books were burned and some of our rare books were water damaged. They tried to save the books and dried them and when the cap skin and the leather bindings dried, they shrunk back to their regular shape. They had to treat them in a special manner so they would avoid damaging the books.   Now what they are doing is scanning the old books because they are so rare and they should not be handled much.   Therefore, digital copies of books and manuscripts are made to allow the public to view them from anywhere in the world.  There is a special project that is going on in the “Matenadaran” as we speak, which involves them digitalizing the manuscripts, which will give everyone the opportunity to view the elements of the illuminations of the bird shade letters and the physical appearance in the manuscripts on the computer.  This will allow people that are interested to observe, research, and study online.  Some websites allow only a part of a book or manuscript to be viewed online, and if one wants the entire document, they will have to purchase a copy. 

Books on computers and books on paper both serve their own purpose and one does not necessarily replace the other.  You can say that books on computers are more convenient because it provides easier access, but the value of books and manuscripts are very high since they are very rare.