Diversify forms of developing reading culture in the community

Readers are interested in choosing books in the program of Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day in Nam Dinh province (April 21).

Not only serving readers at the public library system from the province to the grassroots, reading culture development activities are also organized in a variety of mobile forms to agencies, units, and localities in the province, ensuring compliance with current trends and new requirements. In recent times, the multimedia mobile library vehicle "Light of Knowledge" loaded with books and equipment supporting internet access and movie screening of the Provincial Library has been tirelessly rolling on the roads and has become familiar to people from the coastal areas, parishes to schools and armed forces units in the province. The vehicle is equipped with nearly 5,000 copies of books with hundreds of diverse titles and rich content, delivered to serve people, especially those who do not have the conditions or have difficulty accessing the library, including the elderly, the poor, the disabled, workers in industrial parks, people in detention or serving sentences in prisons, people in rural areas far from the district center - where there is a lack of bookstores, libraries, and basic bookcases. In the reading culture space of the multimedia mobile library vehicle, cadres, soldiers, people, teachers, and students have the opportunity to experience the conveniences of a modern, friendly, and convenient library, ensuring suitability for each reader, meeting the people's need to find information and knowledge, forming new reading needs, contributing to spreading the reading culture in the community. The multimedia mobile library vehicle is also an impressive highlight in events: Book Festival for Children, the program responding to Lifelong Learning Week in schools; Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day in Nam Dinh province (April 21) held in Nam Dinh city; International Children's Day (June 1), "All people protect national security" festival in localities in the province... Over the past 7 years, the Provincial Library has organized hundreds of mobile library vehicle trips to serve readers at grassroots locations in the province.

In addition to serving books and newspapers in the traditional way, the multimedia mobile library also provides free internet access, documentary screenings; organizes basic computer instruction, library usage instruction, document searching, information exploitation; shares effective reading methods, etc. Library activities have taken on a new look according to the motto "proactive, flexible, positive, friendly and closely linked to the interests of the community". Mobile service campaigns are always associated with propaganda activities, popularizing the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws through oriented reading services.

Implementing the Project "Developing reading culture in the community" and the Project "Promoting lifelong learning activities in libraries, museums, cultural houses, clubs", the Provincial Library focuses on expanding the scope of activities, searching, approaching and exploiting potential readers, maximizing the value of books and newspapers in social life. Based on the coordination with the Department of Culture, Science and Information, the Center for Culture, Information and Sports, the Department of Education and Training of districts and Nam Dinh city, the Provincial Library has developed a plan and implemented a periodic mobile service schedule: rotating mobile vehicles to serve facilities in the inner city of Nam Dinh city 8 trips/month and 4 trips/month to the districts. Over the years, the Provincial Library has encouraged schools to build models of "Green Library", "Smart Library"; effectively implementing the work of rotating books to serve schools in the province, an average of 500 copies/school. The book resources provided by the Provincial Library have contributed to enriching the collection of documents in school libraries, practically serving the teaching, learning, expanding and improving the knowledge of teachers and students.

Regarding the circulation of books and newspapers from the Provincial Library to units and localities in the province, after receiving the books, the communes, wards, towns, agencies and units in the province have developed plans to manage, exploit, use and preserve books reasonably; and have paid attention to investing in building, upgrading and repairing book storage locations. Up to now, libraries, political centers of districts, cities, border posts, and communes, wards and towns all have shared bookcases and law bookcases. Most communes, wards and towns have convenient locations to place bookcases in community learning centers, cultural houses, and commune cultural post offices; some places have arranged separate reading rooms with full facilities and equipment such as tables, chairs, computer systems, sound, light, pens, paper, etc. to serve the reading, research and study needs of cadres, party members and people. The target audience for the books is quite diverse: for communes, wards and towns, the focus is on leaders, cadres, party members, members of political and social organizations, the elderly, students and a part of the population working in agriculture; at the political centers of districts and cities, it is cadres, lecturers and students; at libraries of districts and cities, it is mainly retired cadres and students; at border posts and stations, it is cadres and soldiers.

From 2016 to present, every holiday to celebrate the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day (April 30) and International Labor Day (May 1), the Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day held in Nam Dinh city has become a vibrant and attractive "Book and Reading Culture Festival", with the participation of many agencies, units, businesses, sponsors operating in the fields of printing, distribution, publishing of the Central and local levels participating in displaying, exhibiting, introducing books (printed books, audio books, e-books), services and digital educational equipment, attracting tens of thousands of people to visit, read books, and buy books. Within the framework of the Festival, there are also many meaningful activities for readers such as: honoring and praising collectives and individuals associated with the book festival and book day; talks about books with famous writers, poets, and speakers; organizing folk games; Dramatizing some works based on books; performing water puppetry; displaying water puppetry and calligraphy products; cultural exchanges between some high schools in the province; introducing books and technology to digitize book documents; experiencing smart tourism through virtual reality glasses, smart e-readers; smart robots...

The 2025 Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day in Nam Dinh province will be held from April 29 to May 2 at 3-2 Square (Nam Dinh city). In addition to the opening ceremony, many meaningful cultural events and activities will take place, such as: cultural and artistic exchanges; organizing exhibition and book introduction areas with more than 30 booths of units and enterprises operating in the fields of publishing, printing and distribution; exhibition booths introducing books, arranging books with the theme "Welcoming the 21st Provincial Party Congress, term 2025-2030"; issuing library cards on the spot; serving people to read books, newspapers and magazines for free at the exhibition booth of the Provincial Library...

In the current era of digital technology development, reading books in the traditional way is on the decline. Therefore, building the habit of reading books and developing a reading culture in the community has become urgent. With many solutions to improve reading culture in a synchronous, proactive, flexible and meaningful manner, actively implemented by the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, reading books of people in the province, especially students, university students and young people, has been maintained and increasingly developed, contributing to building a learning society.

Article and photos: Khanh Dung

Source: https://baonamdinh.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202504/da-dang-cac-hinh-thuc-phat-trien-van-hoa-doc-trong-cong-dong-3b06c73/