Prominent Cuban librarian Emilio Setién Quesada dies

August 10, 2019

The Cuban Association of Librarians (ASCUBI), the National Library of Cuba "José Martí" (BNCJM) and the entire Cuban librarian profession are in mourning. In the early morning of July 30, 2019, Dr. Emilio Setién Quesada, an eminent professional in Cuban Library Science, died at the age of 80. He was a distinguished educator of several generations of Cuban and Latin American librarians.

A Doctor of Information Sciences, senior researcher and associate senior professor at the Faculty of Communication of the University of Havana, Dr. Setién was a member of the National Committee for Scientific Degrees, a member of the Scientific Committee of the BNCJM and of the Technical Advisory Board of the Rubén Martínez Villena Public Library in Havana, as well as of the National Executive Bureau of ASCUBI, heading the Department of Professional Development.

His professional work began in 1959 with the inception of work at the BNCJM. At this institution he held the directorship of several departments. During this period he was assigned for five years to oversee the Provincial Library Directorate of the former province of Oriente (Las Tunas, Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo), where he carried out commendable work reorganizing the Library Network of that province. After completing this task, he returned to the National Library where he held management positions.

When in 1976 the National Library Directorate (DNB) was separated from the BNCJM, and it became an independent institution of the Ministry of Culture, Dr. Setién was called to work at the new directorate, where he remained for nine years and developed fruitful work in methodological advisory services to libraries and in organizing library work throughout the country. In 1985, with the dissolution of the DNB, he returned to the BNCJM heading the Department of Research until his retirement, work that he combined with teaching at the secondary and university levels of the library science program.

He served as a visiting researcher at the Center for Library Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico between October 1995 and August 1996.

He directed sectoral research topics, conducted tutoring for bachelor's, master's and doctoral theses in the specialty of Library Science and Information Sciences.

He published numerous articles in national and foreign journals, standing out as one of the most prolific authors of scientific production in the library science profession in Cuba and Latin America. Among his most significant works is the title "New Developments in Bibliological-Informative Theory".

He was also a permanent member and correspondent of some Professional Committees of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), such as the one on Library Theory.

Despite his retirement, he continued an active professional life in the Cuban library world, publishing articles, advising research work and theses and as a member of the National Executive Bureau of ASCUBI, in which he remained until 2011.

At the time of his death he held the Distinctions for Cuban Education, Raúl Gómez García and for National Culture, the Commemorative Seal "Antonio Bachiller y Morales", the Seal of Laureates of the National Union of Workers in Culture, the Annual Prize "José Antonio Ramos" from ASCUBI for his outstanding work in the field of library research, the "Manuel García-Garófalo" Prize awarded by the ASCUBI Branch of Villa Clara, the "Juan Albanés" Prize awarded by the Alex Urquiola Provincial Library of Holguín and the National Prize for Information Sciences awarded by the Cuban Society of Information Sciences (SOCICT), among other distinctions.