Bali's National Library is now being visited by an average of 500 people per day compared to less than 100 per day some time ago, Ni Luh Putu Praharsini, head of Bali's Library Affairs Agency, said here Tuesday.
The increase in the library's visitors implied people were getting more interested in reading and more aware of the importance of gaining knowledge through reading, Praharsini said after handing awards to winners of a Reading Interest Contest 2010.
"Reading is very essential in the education of the nation. Therefore, we hope every citizen will become avid readers of books," she said.
More than 60 percent of the visitors to Bali's national Library were undergraduate students, while the rest were students ranging from elementary to senior high schools, she said.
Undergraduate students dominated the visitors as they wanted to read and find references for their theses, she said.
"To anticipate a further increase in visitors, the library would remain open on Saturdays and Sundays. The library would be closed on national and religious holidays," she said.
The number of visitors, however, rose more distinctly at weekends and holidays than on regular days, she said.
The Bali administration was continuing to provide the library with new books every year, and now it had a collection of more than 200,000 volumes of 85,000 titles.
The number did not include magazines, dictionaries and encyclopedias, she said, adding that the administration had promised to allocate funds from the provincial budget to procure new books every year.
"The book procurement will be based on the data of the most preferred books to read," she said.
The most preferred books for the time being were children's stories, history and literary works , she said.
"These types of books will be procured every year due to the public's high interest in them," she said.
The National Library would always procure books in their latest edition to keep up with current developments. Prahartini said.(*)
: Nyoman Budhiana
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