Mustafa Güzelgöz (1921 – 18 February 2005) was a Turkish librarian. He established and operated a travelling library which circulated among 36 villages in the
Ürgüp
Ürgüp ( ''Prokópio,'' Cappadocian Greek: ''Prokópi'', ) is a town in Nevşehir province in the Cappadocia area of Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Ürgüp District.
Ürgüp
Ürgüp ( ''Prokópio,'' Cappadocian Greek: ''Prokópi'', ) is a town in Nevşehir province in the Cappadocia area of Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Ürgüp District.Nevşehir province
Nevşehir Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province in central Turkey with its capital in Nevşehir. Its area is 5,485 km2, and its population is 317,952 (2024). Its adjacent provinces are Kırşehir Province, Kırşehir to the northwest ...
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
and was conscripted into the army in 1940, serving three and half years in the military during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He returned to his hometown in 1944 and was initially unemployed. Then while playing in a football match, he attracted the attention of the district governor () who appointed the 23-year-old as a caretaker at the Tahsin Ağa Library in Ürgüp, a post that had become vacant due to the retirement of an official.
Librarian career
Güzelgöz envisaged his position as being that of a librarian rather than a caretaker of the defunct library. He recovered books from moist and dusty stores, and wrote letters asking for book donations. Despite his success in establishing a library, it attracted little attention so he decided that "If the people do not come to the library, the library has to go to them" and created a
traveling library A traveling library is a collection of books lent for stated periods by a central library to a branch library, club, or other organization or, in some instances, to an individual. The chief characteristics from which it derives its name are its temp ...
to take books directly to readers. This mobile library serviced people in many villages of Ürgüp, with the book stock carried in wooden crates on the back of a donkey. The two crates, labeled Kitap İare Sandığı (Crate of Books on Loan), could carry 180 to 200 books. An official request for the two assistants and a budget for donkey fodder was accepted by the governor on condition that he would service at least five villages with the library. The formal library building in Ürgüp was only open on weekdays; at weekends Güzelgöz went out to the villages with his traveling library.
He continued with his work despite being mocked and nicknamed "Mustafa the Librarian with the Donkey". Books were loaned out for two weeks then returned for another book when Güzelgöz next visited the same village. He ran the library with three donkeys, three mules and two horses, and serviced a total of 36 villages.
After a while he realised that the only readers were , partly because his visit was announced in the village cafes which were men-only zones. To attract women's attention , Güzelgöz asked two world-leading
sewing machine
Diagram of a modern sewing machine
Animation of a modern sewing machine as it stitches
A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolutio ...
manufacturers for a donation in exchange for advertising their brands then installed one
Singer
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
and nine Zenith sewing machines in the library building. He offered books on sewing,
embroidery
Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...
, fashion, cooking, and childcare to female villagers, who came to the library to use the machines. His efforts began to see results as villagers developed a habit of reading and their book choices improved. In one village, people even started to read
classic book
A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
Güzelgöz also pioneered many cultural innovations in the region. He organised sewing and carpentry courses in the library building and, for people who were illiterate, he gave literacy courses in the
Halkevi
Halkevleri (Turkish: ''Halkevi'' literally meaning "people's houses", also translatable as "community centres") is a Turkish community enlightenment project. They were founded in 1932 and entirely abolished in 1951.
Background
The Turkish Repub ...
community centre. He also initiated folk dances, choirs and concerts, cinema screenings, photography works, sports organisations and a village newspaper. In 1963 the daily newspaper ''
Ulus
Ulus may refer to:
Places
* Ulus, Bartın, a district in Bartin Province, Turkey
* Ulus, BeÅŸiktaÅŸ, neighborhood in BeÅŸiktaÅŸ, Istanbul Province, Turkey
*Ulus, Ankara, an important quarter in central Ankara, Turkey
** Ulus (Ankara Metro), an und ...
'' reported on the billboard newspaper initiated by Güzelgöz in one village.
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
. The Peace Corps donated a 1960-make Willy's Jeep for use in the traveling library. The same year, Güzelgöz received the service award of "The Lane Bryant Internatıonal Volunteer Citation" from the U.S.
In 1967, the United States Ambassador to TurkeyParker T. Hart met Güzelgöz during his visit to Ürgüp, and donated a pickup truck to the library.
Güzelgöz's life story was fictionalised in a book titled ''Eşekli Kütüphaneci'' (The Donkey Librarian) by Fakir Baykurt.
In 2012, a statue of Güzelgöz, created by Eray Okkan, was erected in front of the Faculty of Education, Science and Letters building on the Marmara campus of Maltepe University in Istanbul.
Later years
Güzelgöz was forced to retire in 1972 at the age of 50 after a governmental investigation which accused him of carrying out activities unrelated to his job and neglecting his official work. He left 12 libraries and a collection of around 15,000 books. During a visit to a library in Istanbul, he met the government inspector who had prepared the negative investigation report on him. The inspector told him that "he was forced under pressure to do so".
Güzelgöz died from heart failure on 18 February 2005 in the Nevşehir State Hospital, where he had been treated.