• 2015-08-19

From August 15-21, 2014, the 81thInternational Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) General Conference and Assembly was held in Cape Town, South Africa. From August 17-18, a poster session was also held, with 132 posters on display from around the world.

There are two posters from National Central Library (NCL) selected by the IFLA conference for display. They are poster #54 “Reading across the Island, Happiness as High as Heaven” and poster #107 “Sharing Love through Books: NCL’s charity sale for donating award-winning children books to remote areas in Taiwan,” respectively.

The poster session provided a great opportunity for NCL’s presenting the results of reading promotion to the whole world. Due to this, Deputy Director General Ying-mei Wu represented the NCL to attend the conference and poster session and to introduce NCL’s posters to visitors. In the first day of the session, lots of visitors were attracted to view the NCL's posters and take pictures, providing a successful promotion of NCL's services to international audience.

The NCL hosted the 2014 Taiwan Reading Festival in December, with various events being held all across the island. Over 60 institutions helped put on activities, making it the most co-sponsored reading event in the history of Taiwan. On December 7, a Reading Festival Carnival was held on the Zhongshan South Road sidewalks around the NCL. Libraries, cultural and educational foundations, book clubs, and schools throughout Taiwan were invited to claim one of the 29 stalls available, to share with the public the surprise and joy of reading. There was also a raffle held at NCL’s front service desk for those who got a certain number of stamps from the stalls. In addition, on December 20 the event “Little Library Director, Little Librarian for a Day” was held, wherein elementary school students were invited to the NCL and other public libraries to experience what it feels like to serve as a librarian.

To help enrich the holdings of remote libraries so that children there can read quality children’s books, the NCL held a “Sharing Love through Books” charity sale where it collected donations from different peoples and institutions. A total of 885 items were donated by foreign embassies and consulates in Taiwan, local political leaders, library directors and staff, celebrities, national ping pong champions, professional baseball stars, super models, etc. The activity raised NT$222,015 (US$6,900). All proceeds are listed under News on NCL’s website. (https://www.ncl.edu.tw/ct.asp?xItem=23028&ctNode=1620&mp=2) These proceeds were used to purchase illustrated children’s books that received the by the award of Taipei Public Library and the Caldecott Medal of American Library Association. The books were then donated to seven remote elementary school libraries. Each school held a unique activity to thank NCL for the donations, which enable their students to see a wider swath of the world through good books, as well as their own future.

NCL two posters were selected by the IFLA conference for display.

Lots of visitors were attracted to view the NCL's posters.