If we talk about book day, in addition to bookstores, there are other spaces that come to mind: public libraries. In the area, they have had to adapt to the pandemic and its restrictions, but now that normality has returned, the influx of users is gradually recovering and in some cases, even increasing it.
In A Estrada, the number of active “members”, that is, people who have borrowed at least one document in the last 365 days, is 507, of which 206 are children (up to fourteen years of age). In 2022 they had 315 new registrations and so far in 2021 there have been 121 registrations. The total number of loans last year was 3,513, which represents a good increase compared to 2021, with 1,505, and to 2020, with 928. So far in 2023 alone, 1,805 loans have already been made, which attests to a clear upward trend.
It is worth mentioning that the Estrada library spent a long time without filling the bookseller position, so the incorporation of new titles to the book fund was paralyzed. Once the new staff was incorporated last year, a renewal of the catalog could be carried out, especially in the children’s section, in which there were quite obsolete copies.
Regarding the reader profile, there is a high percentage among the child population, a break between 20 and 35, and among adults, a greater presence of women. Likewise, they also have a storytelling activity and a reading club to energize their uses, following the precept that in a library “things have to happen”. A leisure program that will increase once the subsidy from the Xunta “Leer conta moito” has been received.
The Lalinense library also adheres to this, which in 2022 made 305 new cards, especially for people from Morocco and Mexico. The number of active users is 654, of which 399 are adults and 255 children. The total number of loans in the previous year was 5,742, not counting issue renewals, and a total of 1,086 new titles have recently been added to its fund of 18,000 copies. The most consulted sections are children’s, followed by comics and manga and novels of all genres.
As for activities to energize, they have a reading club, storytelling and visits by students from the local schools. Yesterday, as part of the celebration of Book Day, a group of 80 students from CEIP Xesús Golmar came to its facilities to see how the library works and participate in a reading session.
As in A Estrada, in the capital of Dezana they recognize that the Achilles heel of libraries are adolescents, who tend to read less and usually out of obligation (reading the school curriculum). However, they admit that regardless of the age group, the ones who read the most are women. A vision that they share in the library of Sille, where they also see an increase in influx after the pandemic.
Activities in schools
On the other hand, the schools and institutes in the area have not let April 23 pass by. At CEIP Figueiroa in A Estrada, the date was celebrated with a joint reading by primary school students attended by the General Director of Planning and Educational Innovation, Judith Fernández. At the CEIP Nosa Señora de As Dores de Forcarei they carried out activities throughout the week as a commemoration, including a dramatized reading and the opportunity for students to learn to type.
