Community Reading Corner

Community Reading Corner is a reader development and information literacy promotion initiative of Pustaka Negeri Sarawak or Pustaka. It is an extension of the previously commissioned initiative of the same name, which was jointly implemented by Pustaka and the National Library of Malaysia.

Physically, it is a room or part of room or part of a hall, equipped with information resources such as books, magazines, electronic and online resources; basic facilities such as bookshelves, tables, chairs or benches, and fans; and may include other facilities such as computers or offline Internet peripherals. It is to be used as a self-service information resource center by the community where it is set up.

Objectives

The main objectives of this initiative are:

c) to alleviate the information literacy deficiency among the rural dwellers
d) to reduce the information literacy gap between the rural and urban communities
e) to advocate equal access to information and knowledge.

Phase I Community Reading Corners

In Sarawak, Community Reading Corners have been set up in places like

Localities		Districts		Divisions
Kampung Ensengei Iban		Simunjan		Samarahan
Kampung Sageng Ulu		Simunjan		Samarahan
Kampung Sual		Simunjan		Samarahan
Kampung Temiang		Simunjan		Samarahan
Kampung Ensengei Melayu		Simunjan		Samarahan
Kampung Bijurey Mongag		Bau		Kuching

Due to financial and technical limitations during the time of implementation, all these community reading corners were commissioned as one-off projects. This means they are not routinely maintained by the project sponsor and implementer. Such arrangement is considered mundane and obsolete by current standard. Thus, all these community reading corners will be enhanced and to be maintained by the new project sponsor and implementer in Phase II.

Roles and Responsibilities

Three main parties are involve in the planning and implementation of this program or project:

• National Library of Malaysia or Pustaka Negeri Sarawak as a project sponsor
• Pustaka Negeri Sarawak as a project implementer/coordinator and promote reader development programmes such as literacy skill classes, Born To Read, Reading Carnival etc.
• The community will be the provision and maintenance of the venue for the Community Reading Corner and daily operations of the Community of the Reading Corner

Components

Each community reading corner is equipped with

• Book collection
• Bookshelves
• Carpets
• Stools
• Standing fans
• Internet hotspots

Processes

The workflow for the planning, implementation and commissioning of the Community Reading Corner program involves four processes:

1. Feasibility study - exploring the potential site to determine the suitability in terms of users, locality, land ownership
2. Requirement study - determining and planning the space and equipment requirements
3. Implementation - Procurement, delivery and installation of components at the site
4. Commissioning - Testing and handing-over of project