For avid readers, books are the essence of life and imagination. Their connection to other people, countries and cultures. Quite literally, whole worlds can be discovered through books. The British Council believes in keeping this world alive with its 65-year-old library in the Dhaka University campus. On 9 August 2018, the British Council celebrated the National Book Lover’s Day by sharing the experiences of long-term book readers and members of the British Council library. National Book Lovers Day is an internationally celebrated day to encourage readers to find a good book and a suitable reading place. In the bustling city of Dhaka, the British Council library easily wins a spot.
Over the many years, the library has seen countless members and walk-in customers enjoying the full range of books, journals, magazines etc. found in the carefully kept collections. Amongst them, several members have been availing the British Council library services over a long time. Not many weeks would pass without them dropping by and returning borrowed books or picking up a new selection. The library invited a few of these loyal library members and interviewed them. They spoke about their love and passion for books and recalled their journeys with the British Council library and the spaces here in which they found themselves at ease. The British Council has recently launched a digitial library collection, consisting of a wide range of audiobooks, e-magazines and digital resources. Members can now browse online for their favourite books.
In the age of digital platforms, young people opt for a visual media over books and pages. A video of the interviews was prepared from the members’ experiences and shared on the British Council’s social media channels to spread the love of reading books. This campaign aimed to revive the dwindling affection towards books by reaching out to a wide variety of crowd through online platforms. Patron of the library platinum membership for 45 years, Syeda Feroza Rahman said, “We love books because it is the only way we can relax totally in our world.”
The short interview can be viewed in this link: https://bit.ly/2wE9ibl