B@LSH：A Supportive Eco-system for Children’s Reading in Rural Areas

To have reading habits in early ages is significant to adult life. Rural Library, School Book Corner & Home Bookshelf Project (B@LSH) run by Non-Government Library Association (in preparation) aims at creating a ubiquitous reading environment for children within rural communities, schools and homes, to reduce the inequalities between urban and rural areas. The B@LSH Project is a successful outcome of dialogue and cooperation among libraries, schools and homes. Firstly, we make contact with a rural library in rural areas and ask the curator to select a primary school; Secondly, we donate books and bookshelves to the school and set up book corners for classes; Thirdly, the school director select several students who love reading and come from poor families, and we award them a bookshelf with thirty books. By 2018, we have built partnership with 10 rural libraries, donated 118 bookshelves with books to 12 primary schools, and awarded 97 students in different villages. The poster will present photographs, data and typical cases of B@LSH, which will illustrate the characteristics of rural libraries, schools and homes, as well as the partnership among them to create a supportive eco-system for children’s reading in rural areas.