Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies have been urged to support community libraries to promote the culture of reading within their respective jurisdictions. The call was made by Madam Naomi Awusi, the Librarian in-charge of the Nima Community learning Centre, during an interview with Ghana News Agency. The librarian said the lack of support from the Assemblies had subjected the library to many challenges. She complained that since the support from the assembly is not enough, they are compelled to charge patrons for using some gadgets at the library. ‘We charge them those monies so that when we get money from the assembly, we add it and buy prepaid credits for electricity.’ The challenges, according to her, ranged from insufficient books, lack of funds for library expansion and poor infostructure. Madam Elsie said if the challenges are attended to, the Nima Community Learning Centre could become a preferred place for learning for the community. ‘It is not encouraging, people patronize the place when they have exams to write, when there are no exams, the numbers are not encouraging.’ The librarian further complained about poor reading habits of the community members as the patronage of the library is only limited to studying for examination. ‘The reading habits of the community is nothing to write home about, the people in the community do not really read. There are books that have never been touched.’ Madam Elsie further appealed to the Assembly and the general public to support the library.
Source: Ghana News Agency
