March 24, 2014
On March 18, the "Giving Books to Rural Libraries" charity event began in Osh Oblast. After the event donated books will be given to the libraries of villages’ local authorities, universities and schools. Â鶹´«Ã½ students have held this event annually since 2002, and this year Â鶹´«Ã½ gave about 4,000 books.
Â鶹´«Ã½ and Osh Regional Library hold a charity event to support rural libraries.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism, of 1,061 libraries operating in the Kyrgyz Republic, 926 of them are located in rural areas.
In the age of rapid growth of information technologies and Internet, books still keep their place as a primary source of information. Rural libraries play a vital role in forming common informational spaces and providing access to cultural resources. Unfortunately today’s rural libraries feel an acute inability to satisfy readers’ demand for modern literature. Library stocks have long since become tragically obsolete, many books hold little interest for current readers and fresh supplies are few and far between.
Because rural libraries do not have sufficient funds to purchase new literature, Â鶹´«Ã½ and the Osh Regional Library have teamed up to bring interesting, funny or beloved works of literature to good homes. Anyone and everyone who would like to may donate interesting books to rural areas through this charity event. All donations will be given to rural libraries in Osh Oblast.
Last year Â鶹´«Ã½ gave books to libraries in Chui. Â鶹´«Ã½ representatives brought books that were to be removed from university department libraries because they no longer met curriculum requirements. Though no longer useful in our libraries, these books still have value for a great many people in Kyrgyzstan.
English and other foreign language grammar books, as well as university-level literature made up the bulk of donations.
Head of Osh Regional Library Baktygül Myrzaeva said that this year’s event will continue until the end of March. Interested parties can donate belles-lettres, popular science, educational or children’s books written in any language.