Our Correspondent
The Sharjah Public Library (SPL), an affiliate of the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), has announced free annual membership for residents during the month of March in celebration of the UAE’s Reading Month.
There is also a ‘Reader to Reader’ initiative which is an exchange of books amongst SPL employees.
The two initiatives are aligned with the Reading Month’s 2021 theme ‘My Family Reads’. It aims to instil and support positive reading habits among children.
The ‘Everyone’s Library’ initiative will offer free basic membership for one year for those registering in March, either online or in person. Paid membership will resume in April 2022. SPL said that the initiative targets all community members including children, youth, adults, and families.
Academic institutions, government entities and private companies are outside the purview of this initiative, it added.
Under the ‘Reader to Reader’ initiative, each employee of the SPL will offer a book that he/she previously read to their colleague. Employees who exchange books will be allowed to discuss what they have read in special weekly sessions titled ‘30 Minutes for Reading’. Details of each session will be posted on SPL’s social media outlets.
“These initiatives align with the National Reading Strategy, which aims to cultivate a culture of reading in the UAE, build a knowledge-society, and empower successive generations of leaders with the right skills and experiences to drive UAE’s sustainable development,” Eman Bushulaibi, Director of Sharjah Public Library, noted.
