Finding motivation for reading culture

In each classroom at Nguyen Luong Bang Primary School (Hai Duong City), there is a small library corner to create a reading habit for students.

Recognizing the advantages and challenges in developing a reading culture today, Hai Duong always strives to find solutions to multiply the love of books in the community.

Change the way you read

The ancients emphasized the role of books when they said: "Thu trung huu ngoc" (books contain jade) or "Van ban giai ha pham/Duy huu doc ​​thu cao" (Everything is lowly/Only reading books is noble). Scholar Le Quy Don once said: "Even if you have a hundred thousand taels of silver and gold/It is not as good as a few volumes of classics and history"... Mr. Vu Quoc Ai, who used to manage the Vu family's bookshelf and is now managing the Mo Trach village library, Tan Hong commune (Binh Giang), cited such examples to affirm the significance of reading culture in Vietnamese people's lives. "Society has changed, television, phones, and social networks have made many people no longer passionately search for jade in books," holding back a sigh, Mr. Ai expressed his concern that the number of people coming to read and borrow books at the library is not as high as before.

Mr. Vu Quoc Ai regularly collects books with content suitable to people's needs.

This is the general situation and the change of reading culture in the current digital transformation period. The Ministry of Information and Communications has just announced data assessing the current state of reading culture in Vietnam, showing that only about 30% of people read books regularly, 44% read books occasionally and 26% do not read books. On average, each Vietnamese person only reads 4 books/year, but 2.8 books are textbooks, 1.2 books are other books. Meanwhile, in Singapore, on average, people read 14 books per year, and in Japan, it is 20 books. Thus, it is clear that the reading rate of Vietnamese people is much lower than that of the most developed countries in Asia.

According to Mr. Do Van Viet, a teacher at Quang Minh Secondary School (Gia Loc), this is understandable because young people today are attracted to social networks. Many forms of entertainment are more attractive than reading books. However, not only reading paper books is a reading culture, but the form of reading has changed a lot. In addition to paper books, people can read books on their phones and ebooks. "The important thing is that people read and are willing to read. Read selectively to update and improve their knowledge," Mr. Viet expressed his opinion.

Changes in today's approach make many people worry that traditional paper books will "die young", but according to Ms. Vu Thi Bich Lien, Deputy Director of the Provincial Library, the emergence of e-books or online books does not mean that books in traditional libraries are forgotten, but this is also a way to make books easier to reach readers. Recently, Hai Duong Library has constantly innovated, applied digital technology to book data management and served the needs of readers to look up books... The library has upgraded and used Mylib 8.0 software to manage hundreds of thousands of books on the system. The unit regularly posts pictures of books, writes book introductions on the library's fanpage and news page. Hai Duong Newspaper, Hai Duong Radio - Television opened book introduction columns. This change helps readers easily access books and spread reading culture to more people.

Community effort

To spread and develop the reading culture requires the efforts of the whole community. Instead of leaving the bookcase in the lower courtyard of the village temple, all the books of the Vu family in Mo Trach village, Tan Hong commune (Binh Giang) were brought to the village's common library, next to the village cultural house. Mr. Vu Quoc Ai continues to devote himself to collecting and mobilizing his children living far away from home to donate books to enrich the library.

In Hai Duong, many organizations and individuals have found good ways to spread the love of books to readers. Typical examples include the book cafe model or a small bookshelf in a restaurant to serve readers while waiting for their food to be prepared... Green, friendly library models in schools are increasingly being replicated. In particular, many businesses, despite difficulties, have paid attention to building a reading culture among workers and laborers by building libraries in residential areas where many workers live; developing friendly reading corner models in factories and enterprises. The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has also organized many programs such as the Reading Culture Ambassador Contest, coordinated the organization of reading festivals in many localities, and circulated and donated books to village libraries and residential areas...

Many people spend time going to used book stores to buy and read.

The changes of publishers today also help bring books closer to readers. “I see that many books today are printed on thin paper so that readers can hold them less heavy, and the corners of children's books are rounded so that children do not get scratched. Small details such as font size, line spacing, page numbering... are also carefully and creatively invested. Many books are not only printed beautifully but also create 3D effects, vivid sounds and images... These practical changes show respect and bring emotions to readers", commented Ms. Vu Thi Thao on Ham Nghi Street (Hai Duong City).

After 9 years of organization, Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day has become an event that receives the response of many readers, becoming a cultural beauty, spreading in the community. However, to maintain and develop reading culture, it is necessary to do better in promoting reading, so that reading becomes an indispensable habit, an intrinsic need of each person.

In 2014, the Prime Minister decided that April 21 every year is Vietnam Book Day. From 2021, April 21 will be Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day according to the decision at the 8th Session of the 14th National Assembly. The name change once again affirms the Party and State's attention to the cause of developing reading culture in Vietnam.

BAO ANH

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