KUCHING: Sarawak needs more reading facilities in rural areas to ensure information is accessible to everyone.
Sarawak State Library chief executive officer Dr Rashidah Bolhassan urged the state government to establish and upgrade more reading infrastructure, especially in rural areas, in tandem with the state’s development plan for digital community.
“The thought that the number of existing libraries is adequate to allow everyone access to information is definitely not accurate.
“Mobility is one of main issues faced by the community especially in the rural areas,” she said when met by New Sarawak Tribune after a programme at the Sarawak State Library Auditorium, here in Petrajaya recently.
Rashidah explained the lack of a mobility service, in addition to its insignificant location, has constrained visitors to come visit the library here.
“We have also been facing this issue of a lack of public transportation since the beginning. The electric bus should add libraries to its routes too.
“Before Grab exists, people had to rely on private rented vans (‘van sewa’) to send them back and forth from their current location to the library.
“It was the only transportation service that was available during that time,” she recalled.
Although people can now visit the library using Grab, she reminded that not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to afford it.
“We must acknowledge that there are people who cannot afford to use Grab because of financial constraints,” she stressed.
Citing an example on the practise of reading culture in developed countries, Rashidah said access to information is essential to human capital development.
“In developed countries, their standard is to provide reading infrastructures that can be accessed within a 10-minute walk.
“This will help them to become capable in their social and political obligations and become well-informed citizens,” she explained.
She noted that information is a prerequisite to raising educational standards and enhancing the quality of life.
“Information empowers and improves human beings. Well-informed communities are able to exercise their democratic rights, as well as play an active role in society,” she said.
Urging local authorities and private corporations for more collaborative approaches, Rashidah has called everyone to help set up information resource centres at the community level.
“By building more libraries and reading spaces it will provide reading resources, meeting the needs of the local community and playing a crucial role in educational advancement as well as acting as a platform for exchanging ideas and knowledge,” she said.
Meanwhile, Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman shared his support towards the initiative to build a reading community centre at his residential area as the first step.
