A handwritten letter sent by Malta’s renowned national poet Dun Karm Psaila to Ms Joan Barbara on 14 November 1958 has been donated to the University of Malta.

The presentation was made in the presence of former Prime Minister Alfred Sant who had advised Ms Barbara to donate the letter to the University Library.

This letter will join the extensive collection of Dun Karm manuscripts and correspondence at the University of Malta. Present for the occasion were among others Dr Adrian Grima of the University’s Maltese faculty who described this letter as a major feature of the Malta’s Faculty literature collections.

Ms Barbara recalled her pleasure and astonishment at receiving Dun Karm’s reply to a letter which she had sent him from London where she lived, back in 1958.

The poet, though at a very advanced age, made sure he gave a thoughtful and lucid reply to the enquiries addressed to him from faraway by a young woman he did not know.

During the meeting, Librarian Kevin Ellul expained how the University of Malta library has in recent years converted most of its facilities to digital modes of  operation. Digitilisation was necessary to keep in line with fast developing trends in library operations worldwide.

But it also enabled the ever growing number of students in Malta to access the library’s resources with greater facility and lower per capita costs.

However it was explained that an anomaly which has emerged is that while libraries get charged VAT at 5% when purchasing printed books, the rate goes to 18% on the purchase of electronic resources. Alfred Sant, who will be contesting the EP elections on 24 May, agreed that this needs to be reviewed and that since it is a measure that derives from EU regulations, it needs to be tackled at European level.