Free book library: Contributing to spreading reading culture

Located in a small alley at Chu Van An street, Huu Lung town, Huu Lung district, A free book library called “Leaf House” with nearly 900 books by Ms. Duong Minh Ngoc and Ms. Pham Thai Hoa has long become a familiar address for many book-loving students in the district.

Students read books at the “Leaf House” free book library

No internet connection, no loud music, that’s what we observed and felt when visiting the Leaf House free book library. The first image that appeared in front of our eyes was young people focusing on “relaxing” on the pages of books.

Student Dang Hai Ly, an 11th grader at Huu Lung High School is one of them. Every week, every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, Hai Ly goes to the library to learn more knowledge about studying as well as to hone life skills. Ly shared: When I have free time, I often go to the library to read books. Here, you don’t have to spend any money and can still choose your favorite book. Besides, the space of the library is also arranged very harmoniously and quietly.

Not only Ly, over the past time, many young people in Huu Lung district have had access to a free library of books. According to the reporter’s research, the Leaf House free book library, put into operation in 2020, is the idea of Ms. Pham Thai Hoa and Ms. Duong Minh Ngoc with the goal of spreading the passion of reading to everyone, especially teenagers and children. When going to the library, readers do not need to pay any costs to read books, including library cards, mailing items, drinking water, etc. After nearly 3 years of implementation, the book library has attracted a large number of young people to read and experience books. Up to now, the library has more than 900 titles with a variety of topics such as reference books, literature, history, economics, science, skills, folk tales…with quality assurance, selected and suitable mainly for young people. In order to enrich the source of books, the library also mobilizes more books from departments, sectors,  unions and schools in the district.

Ms. Duong Minh Ngoc, Leaf House Book Library Manager shared: Stemming from a passion for books, we very much look forward to spreading the reading culture to a large number of young people in the area who know how to cherish books and take advantage of precious treasure to become a person of knowledge and benevolence, and increasingly develop a reading culture in the community. Additionally, in order to encourage the reading movement and attract readers to the library, we also focused on improving the service quality with good attitude, good documents, regularly changing the way of book display and layout to create an impressive and lively space. At the same time, we organized programs to “exchange books” to enrich the book stock at the library. In addition, when young people come to the library, we also regularly share and orient them to select and refer to books and stories suitable for their age.

When it first came into operation, the library also faced many difficulties due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of managers, lack of funding… In order to maintain the library’s operation, in July 2022, Ms. Hoa and Ms. Ngoc opened a Club to teach Piano, Guitar, Fine Arts, etc. Tuition fees from teaching will be deducted to pay fees such as: : electricity, water, space…With creative ways, the library has attracted more and more people to the library. In the summer, on average, every day, the library welcomes about 15 to 20 people to read books.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Thanh, Director of the Center for Culture, Sports and Communication of Huu Lung district commented: In the past time, the Leaf House free book library has contributed to building reading habits, creating the effect of spreading reading culture to a large number of students in the area. This is also the only free book library in the district. With many good and diverse books, selected content, and tested for quality, the library has contributed to arousing and fostering a love of books for students, helping readers improve their knowledge and skills. In the coming time, we will continue to propagate the free library model on the mass media so that more people know about the library, helping the library receive more good and useful books.

Books are not only a treasure of knowledge but also contain many beautiful human values. Spreading reading culture is spreading good things from the page to life. Hopefully the relentless efforts of the “owner” of the Leaf House free book library will contribute to spreading the reading promotion movement in Huu Lung district, reading habits will become more and more popular and reading culture will become a cultural beauty in people’s lives.