NON: Create a beautiful space for reading

Students enjoy reading books in the NON library at Phan Chu Trinh Secondary School (Dak Som, Dak Glong, Dak Nong) – Photo: LINH THOAI

During the busy days before Tet, nearly 30 young people in their twenties still arranged two weekends with NON to build a creative library for students at Phan Chu Trinh Secondary School (Dak Som commune, Dak Glong district, Dak Nong).

What is special is that NON not only brings thousands of good books, but also focuses on "renovating library spaces through creative design solutions", creating a reading space that both satisfies the eyes and creates a sense of relaxation for children.

NON – the project name – means both young and non-profit, and the library is not just a place to store books.

NON hopes that children everywhere have the opportunity to access the library in the most fun and comfortable way. The library is not only a place to keep books, but also a destination for children to connect with friends, read, learn, develop skills, have fun, be creative and become a better version of themselves.

Nguyen Thuy Phuong Anh (co-founder of NON project)

Good books, nice shelves, comfortable chairs

Nguyen Thuy Phuong Anh – co-founder of NON project

Nguyen Thuy Phuong Anh - co-founder of the NON project - shared that after many times donating books to schools and reading spaces, she was worried that good books alone were not enough if the reading space was boring and dry.

That concern made the girl born in 1991, who has a lot of management experience in the creative design industry (specializing in brand and interior design), dream of creating a reading space that children really want to immerse themselves in and passionately explore.

That dream took on a clearer shape after a survey in An Giang on the needs of both students and librarians.

Faced with the disadvantages of children in remote areas and the gap in books for secondary school students, Phuong Anh and her teammates determined to take the first steps for the NON project.

The two major “supports” of the project are the creative studio The Lab Saigon – the unit that designs reading spaces, brands, and supports communication strategies, and the Entertainment and Education Bookcase program – the unit that connects and selects reading spots in need, provides professional advice on books, and reading promotion programs.

To create an attractive space for children, NON offers beautifully designed ladybug shelves inspired by the image of a ladybug, along with soft beanbag chairs.

The eye-catching bookshelves for children were created after many experiments by architect Tran Gia Tu. Gia Tu said he chose this design because the image of the orange-winged beetle is easy to recognize, a beneficial insect and very close to the lives of children in the countryside.

In May 2024, the first NON library was born at Quang Trung Secondary School in Dong Commune, K'bang District, Gia Lai Province. Dak Nong is the second destination of the project, this time NON started to beautify the space outside the library with murals.

Volunteer groups divided into groups to paint walls, arrange books and decorate the inside of the library, conduct career workshops, organize reading promotion activities with lively games, etc.

With 15 years of running the Entertainment and Education Bookshelf - a program to donate books to places in need, Tran Thi Kim Thoa (born in 1986, currently working in the field of sustainable agricultural development and forest protection) - co-founder of the NON project - has a lot of experience in selecting good books.

Looking at the series of attractive book covers displayed on the shelves at the second NON library, Kim Thoa's eyes sparkled: "If the children can read just a few books here, they will receive so much interesting knowledge." According to Kim Thoa, the top criteria for the project to choose a destination is that the place has a librarian who is passionate about reading and knows how to create vitality for the library.

When the reading space is bright

On the day NON handed over the library at Phan Chu Trinh Secondary School, students took turns visiting and were overwhelmed with joy and excitement when "our school now has an unexpectedly beautiful library".

H'Uyen - a Ma ethnic student in class 9A2 - excitedly said: "I feel really happy that the library has many books for students to refer to, and it's great that we have another place to relax after stressful lessons". Meanwhile, H'Than - H'Uyen's classmate - used the word "bright" when describing the new reading space: "The library used to be gloomy, but now it's so bright, it makes me want to go to the library more often".

Looking at her workspace “transformed” when the NON project appeared, librarian Nguyen Thi Thuy could not hide her emotion, because as she shared, after nearly 20 years of graduating, she still had never had the opportunity to do the job she was passionate about in the context of libraries with limited funding.

After a week, Ms. Thuy said: “The library is overloaded every day with students coming in. During recess, there are 40-50 students sitting and standing reading books. I am much busier, but extremely happy.”

It can be seen that what NON brings is not only a fresh reading space but also many other intangible values ​​for the growth journey of beneficiaries and young people participating in the project. Hopefully NON will grow stronger to be able to bring creative library spaces to many places.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/non-dung-khong-gian-dep-cho-su-doc-20250120100424443.htm