Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Acting Head of the National Library (Perpusnas) E. Aminudin Aziz urged regional libraries in every province to explore innovative ways to increase public interest in reading books.

"For example, the (regional) library office presents a 'library booth' at the Car Free Day event every week. Let us see if people come to look for it," Aziz said after attending the Library Development Coordination Meeting here on Tuesday evening (February 15).

Aziz remarked that the effort to be present in public spaces is effective in improving the reading culture of the community.

"If the reading culture improves, people's reading literacy will slowly increase," he noted.

He emphasized that the reading culture is a priority program that must be achieved, so that people's literacy skills can increase, and their insight and knowledge can widen.

He explained that the reading culture first grows when parents regularly teach their children about reading.

To support the reading culture program, the National Library has launched the Nusantara manuscript mainstreaming program and the standardization and mentoring for local libraries.

According to data as of October 13, 2023, he said, out of the 172,227 libraries in the country, 145,204 of them are school libraries.

"We hold many programs to increase public interest in reading. More activities can boost public interest in reading," he remarked.

Earlier, the National Library stated that it will focus on conducting several programs in order to boost community literacy, which among others, are making rare and ancient manuscripts accessible to the public and mentoring local library managers.

The Library also carries out the social inclusion-based libraries (TPBIS) transformation program for libraries in villages.

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Translator: Tumpal A, Kenzu
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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