Taichung city councilors have called on the city government to expand library collections to give residents access to more books.
Democratic Progressive Party Taichung City councilors Huang Shou-ta (黃守達), Wang Li-jen (王立任), Hsieh Chih-chung (謝志忠), Chang Yao-chung (張耀中) and Chang Yu-yen (張玉嬿) on Thursday said that Taichung libraries have too few books per resident.
Huang cited the Annual Report on Reading Atmosphere and Reading Engagement in Taiwan published in March by the Ministry of Education, which analyzed people’s reading habits using data from public libraries across the country.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
On average, city libraries last year offered 1.98 books per person, which was lower than the 3.39 books available per person in Taipei, 2.29 books per person in Kaohsiung and 2.27 books per person in Tainan, Huang said.
Taichung performed relatively well on other reading-related indices in the report compared with other cities and counties: 75 percent of residents had library cards and visited libraries an average of 2.59 times last year, borrowing four books per person, he said.
The data showed that Taichung residents are willing to read and enjoy reading, but there are not enough books in the city, he said.
In Taichung school libraries, there are on average 34.18 books per elementary-school student and 28.51 books per junior-high student, with access at both levels ranking second to last among the six special municipalities, he said.
He urged the Taichung Bureau of Education to allocate more resources to expand book collections in school libraries and create a better reading environment in schools.
Taichung Bureau of Cultural Affairs Director-General Chen Jia-jun (陳佳君) said access to books in the city would rank among the highest if e-books were counted.
Taichung has allocated NT$100 million (US$3.32 million) for public libraries, which is the second-highest among the six special municipalities, and it continues to purchase new books monthly, she said.
The city plans to open the new Taichung Main Public Library, which is to have a collection of 500,000 books, she said, adding that the additional books would bring the average number of books per resident to more than two books per person.
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