Macao Library Week 2016 – ‘Books that Await Opening’

Macao Public Libraries was formed through the merger of libraries formerly under IACM's administration and the initial Macao Central Library. In response to the Macao Library Week 2016, Macao Public Libraries, under the auspices of Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau and the Macao Library & Information Management Association have joined forces to host a series of reading promotion activities held on the 23rd April every year since 2002. A major annual library festival in Macao, the event serves to promote reading culture throughout the community. Time passes quickly and this year heralds the 14th Macao Library Week. Libraries will continue to share the responsibilities of spreading knowledge, promoting reading culture, as well as providing library resources and services to the residents.

Macao Library Week 2016 is themed ‘Books that Await Opening’. Each book awaits opening and reading upon publication so that it can be understood as forming a linkage with mankind and the world, thereby creating a reading atmosphere. A book will remain untouched on the shelf until it is opened by a reader with a corresponding interest and personality, at which time a unique and private space emerges between the book and the reader.

In April and May this year we will organize over 40 different themed reading promotion activities, including: themed book fairs; photography exhibitions; workshops on book production; pop-up book theatres; reading promotion activities in schools; writer’s seminars; family reading activities and quiz competitions among others. Local and overseas guests and scholars are invited to participate in the event. Through a full range of exciting activities we hope to inculcate a feeling of ownership for each book, and send readers on a reading peregrination in company with books.