Cape Town: The young generation of legislative capital of South Africa is super excited to celebrate the World Book Day. This year the theme to be followed is ‘Read Your Way’.
The city celebrates the World Book Day, that aims to raise awareness about the joy and importance of reading, statistics, that shows the city’s libraries are the perfect matchmakers for literary love affairs.
The libraries of the city of Cape Town continue to be hot spots in their communities with the gate readings for the financial year to date (July to March) considering around 7.1 million visits.
More than 4.6 million items have been circulated or booked out by the patrons and over 18,407 new members have signed up for a six-month period between July and December.
The officially appointed staff for the event has also facilitated 5,323 storytelling sessions and 569 reading programmes. The initiatives attracted nearly 33,000 children just in the first three months for the year 2024.
The libraries of Cape Town are home to a number of classic titles and a lot of work goes into expanding and updating the collections.
Notably, the materials are updated continuously and each library draws up a collection of development plan that guides their purchases, which are usually aligned to the needs of the community that, especially the library serves.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Services and Health – Councillor Patricia Van der Ross asked that if anyone has any doubt about a library in the society, hopefully the statistics will set the record straight. For many, the local library is where they are able to spark a relationship with the stories, words and books and several doors that they unlock.
“This World Book Day we want to encourage everyone to read their way, at their own pace, in their own time and whatever title or topic tickles their fancy,” said Van der Ross.
Councillor Patricia also stated that it is very important to remember that children live what they learn. “So as much of our focus is on literacy in this age group, we as adults need to lead from the front,” says Ross.
“It is important to read with your children, but also let them see you reading for your own enjoyment. Books and the stories they hold should be lifelong companies for both young and old,” stated Patricia Van der Ross.
Patricia further stated that, “Some stories are timeless and will always be on the shelves but our Library and Information Service does a lot to keep up with the times.”
Moreover, the city recognises that the storylines and narratives change as generations do and what might appeal to Gen-X are not necessarily page turners for Gen-Z or Gen-Alpha. So it is necessary to maintain that space that is needed by all.