It may take two hours to participate in an event at the library, but before these two hours, the library promoters have to spend over a dozen times the amount of hours to organize the event. The library provides hundreds of activities each year, such as workshops, lectures, parent-child and children reading activities, the library promoters take every event very seriously because they always believe: each event is the seed of reading which will grow into strong trees in future.
Book recommendation is also the job of library promoters. But nowadays the old-fashioned, simple book recommendation are not attractive to the public anymore. Therefore, in the recent years, the events are more and more integrated in daily life, such as handmade workshops, children activities, lectures, sharing events so as to spread the seeds of reading. Lois Au, Director of the Promotion Department told us that her colleagues have been working closely on providing diverse activities, both in themes and styles. As a public library facing the whole community, they seek to discover various themes catering to the needs and attention of various social groups. “Even though there are not many participants in some events, we cannot cut down the event just because there are few participants. The promotion of reading requires long-term investment. One failure does not speak for the future, we should never give up. Always being ready to try is our attitude,” said Lois.
In recent years the library has an increasing number of visitors, which is a delight for the library promoters. This means the library has its specific charm to attract readers. Lois said, “Library is a public space. Although some visitors do not come for reading, as long as they walk in, it is possible that the library can arouse their interest in reading.” In addition, in order to better promote reading, the library is working closely with different public departments, such as the cooperation of BookCrossing with the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), sharing working experiences with library staff from the Great Bay Area, and so on. Through these events, the library staff can learn more about the reading culture of various places, so as to promote the services of Macao Public Library and spread the seed of reading.
