Literate but book-less: Society aims to tackle nationwide lack of reading material

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — With figures showing that most Brazilians have considerable difficulty in buying books, the Brazilian Bible Society (BBS) has begun a project to start community libraries among people who – though they can read – seldom get the opportunity.

Typical housing along the banks of the River Amazon. Brazil. Photo: UBS/Maurice Harvey (BRA90T-594.JPG)

In partnership with both government and private enterprise, the Society is starting small libraries in literate but book-less communities. It is calling the initiative the Community Book Collection Project (PAC).

Libraries

“The idea is to establish small libraries in which communities who have little or no contact with biblical literature or with books in general, such as the riverside villages along the Amazon and neighbourhoods on the outskirts of large cities, will gain access to books,” says Alice Giraldi, the BBS Social Welfare Secretary.

We can read but we don’t – and we’re increasing The number of those who can read but either choose not to or who cannot gain access to books for economic or other reasons is growing. According to a survey by the Brazilian Book Association, 61 per cent of adults in Brazil who know how to read and write have little or no contact with books; 6.5 million people in the low-income sections of the population cannot afford to buy one and 73 per cent of books are concentrated in the hands of just 16 per cent of the population. The figures show the considerable difficulty most Brazilians have in gaining access to books. A study of reading in the United States published earlier this year by the National Endowment for the Arts showed that the reading of literature is declining among groups of all ages and that the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young. Over the past 20 years, the proportion of Americans aged 18 to 34 who read literature has fallen by 28 per cent. Overall, less than half of American adults now read literature, according to the study, a decline of 10 per cent since 1982.

Little libraries of around 120 to 150 volumes will be set up in community centres, churches and schools. They will include a range of publications such as Bibles, New Testaments, Portions, teachers’ books and children’s literature, as well as works with a relevance to the day-to-day activities of the community.

“The PAC will be nationwide in scope and will be built up with the support of local partners,” says Ms Giraldi. One of its partners is Editora Melhoramentos, an old-established Brazilian publisher specialising in children’s and young people’s literature, which has already donated 7,200 publications to the project.

It was when the Bible Society was asked to donate biblical literature to a somewhat similar project started by the Agrarian Reform Secretariat (SRA), that it learned about Arca das Letras (Arc of Letters), established to introduce libraries into rural communities. The BBS met the request by donating 100 publication sets each containing 44 titles, and in return the SRA proposed a pilot Arca des Letras project in the Amazon region. In February the two organisations set up an agreement to this end.

Underprivileged

Both Arca das Letras and PAC aim to expand the cultural horizons of underprivileged communities through access to books.

“The essential difference is that the main operating focus of the Agriculture Ministry is in rural communities, while ours also includes the urban population,” explains Ms Giraldi. The SRA has already introduced more than one hundred Arcas das Letras projects, and some 500 libraries were due to have been opened in the rural areas of the northeast by the end of August.

Medical aid

One of the first communities benefiting from the PAC initiative is the riverside community of Ilha Grande, in the town of Belém, Pará. The BBS chose the community because it matched the target audience for the Arca das Letras project. The Society also detected the opportunity of serving the community with its Light of the Amazon program of medical and other aid. (See World Report 386/15 - 6/7.04.)

In June Society representatives visited Ilha Grande to identify volunteers to coordinate the program locally. Called ‘reading agents’, they are charged with safeguarding and maintaining the library books and building up associated activities designed to encourage reading.

“The success of projects like this is only possible if the local communities are fully involved,” says Ms Giraldi. “And the activities aim to promote Bible study, encourage reading and to bring the various people involved together.”

The 200 or so titles will be chosen and assembled by both organisations, with the BBS responsible for the biblical literature and the SRA and Editora Melhoramentos in charge of the remaining titles. These will range from teaching works to technical books dealing with fish and vegetable farms and agriculture.

The BBS and the SRA will monitor the project for a year, during which around 500 people will benefit. (WR 388/2 - 10/11.04)