Sharjah: Children and adults will read more given the right motivation, and not just the right books, experts said during the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), which ends on Saturday.
For children, school libraries can be powerful motivators if they use innovative approaches, SIBF speakers said.
At the Emirates National School in Al Ain, for instance, children were eager to read books even during their lunch break, thanks to the school Reading Buddies project, librarian Mohammad Al Hassan said.
The project involved older students reading to younger students, in pairs or in groups. It became so popular that parents and teachers joined in, Al Hassan added.
“The students wanted to play the role of the leader, they became teachers. Sometimes children are the best teachers for children. The students wanted to read to each other even in their lunch break,” he said.
School librarians said the school library should rise above being regarded as just “a free period” by students, and the librarian should be more than “the book check-out person”.
To inspire a love for books, The Westminster School in Dubai held a Reading Challenge where reading was just one part of the programme. Students met authors, held a book fair with their parents, presented book reviews, and received awards, said M.O. Raghunathan, the school’s head librarian. There was also a student volunteer programme for the school library and read-aloud sessions.
Raghunathan said the librarian should be available as a guide for students, to help them choose books, explain reading difficulty levels, and select genres.
“You can’t be a person who just checks out books. Students should be able to look up to you,” he added.
Adults, too, can be inspired to read more, shows a study by the Knowledge without Borders (KWB) initiative, which gives free books to UAE nationals in Sharjah. Since a lack of time was cited by respondents as a major reason for not reading, making short stories or books available could fill the gap.
In fact, those who received the KWB free home library spent 61 per cent of their free time reading. On the other hand, 43 per cent those who did not have the KWB library admitted to never reading anything at home.
The aim of the survey was to determine how much people benefited from the home library donated to them by KWB.
