April 23rd is World Book and Copyright Day. It is a symbolic day that reminds us of the value of reading and the need to preserve this special and historic medium.
This day was established as such after the decision of the Educational, Scientific and Political Organization of the United Nations (UNESCO). The choice of the day was not accidental since, on April 23, 1616, two great names of letters passed away. The Spanish author of Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes and the English dramatist William Shakespeare.
The undoubted value of the book and reading, acquires special importance today and gives additional meaning to the preservation of this day, perhaps, more than any other time. In today’s digitized age of the image, the book acquires an exception and a good whose tradition is worth preserving. A book is not just words in a logical sequence, but much more a means of imparting knowledge, cultivating thought and creating culture.
Ms. Maria Agriou Head of the Public Historical Library, Philologist and PhD candidate of the department of archaeology, librarianship and museology of the Ionian University.
“World Book Day is an opportunity to celebrate the importance of reading in our lives and in society at large. It is a reminder of how important the book is in our lives and of the benefits it can offer us. Reading can inspire us, inform us, help us become better people… Books are not just compositions of words on a paper, they are a gateway to new worlds, they are a source of knowledge and experiences. A person who reads enriches his spirit and his imagination, develops himself, while many times he finds a way out of his difficult everyday life or even a way to solve the problems that may concern him”.
For the way in which Ms. can contribute to the development of the individual. Agriou comments.
“A book can influence us to a significant extent. Depending on the type of book, of course, because there are literary, scientific, informational books, so each person chooses the corresponding category depending on the needs he has at the given moment in his life. Let’s say a literary book enriches your imagination and gives you a way out of the stresses of everyday life, a scientific book can contribute to the enrichment of your knowledge and help you practically in some tasks that a student or student may have or professional. Reading also has important benefits for our mental health, it helps us to strengthen our ability to think positively and to improve our communication with other people… Consider how important reading books to children is for their development and psycho-emotional development ».
According to Ms. Agrio’s offer of books to his readers is multifaceted and diverse. As head of the Public Library in Zakynthos, she tries to maintain extroversion and through action to convey the love of reading mainly to children.
“We as a public historical library carry out educational programs for both primary and secondary school students. In collaboration with schools, we carry out some educational programs through which we want to give information to children about the history of the book. We also invite them to travel with a book, create their own stories and become little writers themselves, and of course we also bring them into contact with books in the library area, so that they get to know the book and love it and a another day to return to the library to become members and borrow books.
We are very happy because these educational programs have paid off and we see that the library members are increasing every day. We have all age groups, we don’t only have adults, we now also have many children from elementary school to high school who come to the library every day and borrow books. Also, it gives us particular satisfaction that we see older children, that is high school, who when they have time off or when they don’t have school come to the library, use the reading room and study here in the library area.”
The offering of the public library is important. The library is open to the public daily from 8.30 to 2.30 in the afternoon and additionally every Wednesday evening 5:00 – 8:00 and Saturday 9:00-1:00. The loan process is easy, as Ms. Agriou, in order to borrow a book, it is enough to have their police ID with them and if it is a small child accompanied by their guardian. By creating a membership card, one can borrow up to 6 books at a time. Also, during opening hours, the reading room is available, which you can absolutely use, always respecting the rules.
Mr. Plessas Alivizos, a bookstore owner, gives us an idea of the movement in the book market.
“All ages come into the bookstore from 3 years old to 80. Usually parents and children who are interested in children’s books come in, but also the older ages who with novels, historical books, knowledge books and everything they can find interesting for any age to read. We try to have a very wide variety of books. We have a lot of titles, usually the newest releases, but also older ones.”
While he mentioned the value of the book.
“It is known that reading is very important in our social life but also for life in general. People read books, visit bookstores, buy books, it is very important that this happens and above all we must encourage young people. We have to give the trigger to our children, the children who go to school, the younger ones and the older ones. We have to give books as gifts, it is very important when you give a gift that it has a significant spiritual value because all this elevates society even higher.”
photo: sky-force