Following recent approval by the Da Nang administration, the Da Nang General Science Library has opened to serve on-campus reading. In addition to ensuring the strict practice of mandatory safety measures against COVID-19, the library has focused on promoting digital library activities to meet the reading needs of the general public.

An officer of the Da Nang General Science Library (on the left) scans the medical declaration QR code for readers. Photo: Xuan Dung

In the early days of reopening, the number of readers coming to this highly popular library to borrow and read books was not high, with an average of about 200 people per day, a decrease of more than 60% as compared to the pre-pandemic time.

As noted, readers to the library are mainly pupils, tertiary students and pensioners who come here to read and borrow their favourite books. The library now allows the reading -on the-spot, but most people usually borrow books for at-home reading. On-site readers are mainly elderly who still want to read more newspapers and magazines available at the library.

Choosing a quiet corner to read newspapers, Mr. Phan Thai, living in Thach Thang Ward, Hai Chau District) shared: “In the past, I still maintained the habit of going to the library to read books every day because of the spacious and quiet space full of many trees. During the time of social distancing, I couldnot go to the library to pick up books, so it was quite sad. Up to now, the city has controlled the coronavirus surge and the library has resumed operations, so it ishigh time to find more books and newspapers to read. For elderly readers like me who are not used to using smartphones and computers to read e-books, being able to read on the spot in the library is very exciting.”

To ensure the strict compliance with COVID-19 curbs, the library has re-opened the Borrowing, the Newspaper - Magazine and the Children's rooms. Any arrivals must make compulsory medical declarations and have their QR codes scanned for supervision and strictly comply with the 5K regulations mandated by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

It is expected that in early November, the library will open all the remaining rooms to meet the growing needs of readers.

During the ongoing new normal state, the library is focusing on planning and organizing reading promotion programmes and contests from now until the end of the year. In particular, the target audience is students, pupils and the network of grassroots libraries across the city.

For example, at the end of October, the library will launch the reading movement in 2021 -2022. Later, in November, it is expected to organize a book introduction contest with the theme “Reading every day” for middle school students.

In the face of the potential COVID-19 risk, the library determined to focus on promoting the digital library, improving the efficiency of information technology application so that it can serve readers at any time in a more effective manner.

According to Pham Xuan Thu, the Head of Informatics Department of the Da Nang General Library of Science, during the city's social distancing period, the unit provided about 400 free library cards to readers in the online form.

Besides, readers were guided to access free of charge at thuviendientu.thuvien.danang.gov.vn and sachdientu.thuvien.danang.gov.vn to read e-books.

According to statistics, the 2 above-mentioned websites recorded a high number of visits for borrowing and reading books, with a monthly average of nearly 1,500 readings.

Up to now, the library has nearly 12,000 copyrighted e-books and hundreds of thousands of titles associated with units across the country to serve readers. Recently, the library has also successfully applied chatbot to e-book pages to prmomote exchanges and supportive acts for readers as quickly as possible.

Reporting by XUAN DUNG- Translating by A. THU