KOTA KINABALU: A library within the shopping complex concept will be expanded to other districts soon.
Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun in disclosing this, said it was another way to reach out to the people to embrace reading as a habit rather than waiting for them to step into the library.
“This may be a new concept but it is gaining popularity amongst the people. You can actually see people coming into the library to read or borrow books in between their shopping time,” she said when visiting the library at the Suria Sabah shopping mall yesterday.
Azizah disclosed that since the Suria Sabah library was set up in February, the number of visitors had increased each month, with an average of 20,000 people monthly.
“We will expand it to other districts soon, but it has to be a place where there are a lot of people and available premises,” she said.
The library within the shopping complex was started in Bandar Indah, Tawau, before it was expanded to the state capital.
She also disclosed that the library would be maintained, even after the completion of the proposed Sabah Regional Library in Tanjung Aru next year.
On Sabah Progressive Party’s statement that the setting up of the library within the shopping complex was costly, Azizah replied: “This is for the people. We are doing this for the people in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s call of ‘People First, Performance Now’. Nothing is expensive for the people.”
On comments that there were not enough books at the Suria Sabah Library, she said the state library would find ways to meet the people’s demand.
“At the same time, we would also welcome and encourage people to come in and donate their books,” said Azizah.
Meanwhile, Sabah State Library director Wong Vui Yin said they were lacking in books in the national language.
“If you go to our libraries, you will notice that most of the shelves for books in Bahasa Malaysia (BM) are always empty. It is not just happening in Sabah, but is faced by most public libraries nationwide.
“Our education system is such where the medium of instruction is in BM and the younger generation and in fact everybody can read and understand the language. So that is why there are not enough books on our shelves,” he said.