There are 39 million books in public libraries around the country, but the number is insufficient when compared to the population, said Mohammad Allahyari Foumani, deputy of libraries and reading development, at the Institution of Public Libraries.
Nearly 2.5 million people are members of public libraries and the institution plans to further increase the membership, Foumani said at a meeting of the administrative committee of the Office of Public Libraries in Gilan, held in Anzali, Mehr News Agency reported.
Referring to the institution’s absence at the 28th Tehran International Book Fair, Allahyari said while it failed to seize the opportunity of participating in the book fair, however, “we decided to expend the allocated amount of $150,000 in equipping libraries with more books.”
A selection of books published in the past two years were listed for librarians based on the needs of their respective libraries, and $15,000 has been allocated to purchase books for public libraries in Gilan Province.
