BY SACHIN KUMAR
Doha: At the time when people around the globe are spending more time on the Internet, the charm of printed words is growing in Qatar. More people in Qatar are now reading books as the data shows that number of books borrowed from the public libraries has jumped 19 percent in the last five years. Total number of books borrowed from public libraries in Qatar grew to 53,924 in 2012 from 45,373 in 2008 showing that book reading habit in Qatar is gaining momentum.
The number of books borrowed in the past five years, also witnessed rise of 31 percent. Total number of books borrowed from public libraries increased by 6,689 to 28,030 in 2012 from 21,341 in 2008.
There are seven public libraries in Qatar and maximum number of readers went to Qatar National Library to borrow books in 2012. Close to 14,000 individuals borrowed 23,411 books from the national library in 2012. Sheikh Ali Thani Library stood second in terms of number of book borrowed. Readers borrowed 15660 books from Sheikh Ali Thani Library while number of borrowers stood at 7992 in 2012. The improvement in the reading habits seems to have prompted authorities to increase the number of staff in the libraries. Total number of employees working in public libraries rose to 184 from 130 in 2009.
The growing habit of reading books is contrary to the trend of decline in book reading habit in other countries. After the advent of Internet and growing popularity of networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and others, publishers have witnessed decline in the sale of books. Also readers are now moving to e-book such as Kindle, which allows them to read books in electronic format.
Book reading habit has gradually risen in the past years but previous year (2012) emerged as an exception as number of book borrowed declined. Total number of book borrowed 2012 fell to 53924 compared to 61888 in 2011. Likewise number of books borrowed declined to 28030 in 2012 from 31017 in 2011.
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