DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 23 Nov) – A four-story 24/7 public library worth P40 million will open in Davao City next year, Vice Mayor Bernard Alag said.
The construction of the four-story 24/7 Davao City library and information center is ongoing since 24 April 2018. It will be completed on 19 April 2019. Photographed Friday (23 Nov 2018). MindaNews photo by ANTONIO L. COLINA IV
Alag said in an interview at the sidelines of the opening day of the 10-day Big Bad Wolf at The Tent in Azuela Cove on Thursday that the Dabawenyos can expect a modern Davao City Library and Information Center equipped with internet and computers.
He added there will also be a space for teachers.
The construction of the building, which is located along C.
Bangoy Street in Barangay 34-D, started on April 24, 2018 and will be completed on April 19, 2019.
The existing public library, located at the third floor of the Sangguniang Panlungsod building along San Pedro Street, will be relocated to the new building, he said. The current library opens from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
“Our library is okay but it’s not very accessible because it is sharing a space with other offices and, secondly, it’s operation is up to 7 p.m. The idea is to create a library which will operate 24/7,” Alag said.
The vice mayor said Mayor Sara Duterte’s administration, in her 10-point agenda, wants to “increase the literacy of our children and to make the public library more accessible to the people.”
He said there has been a growing clamor for a more accessible library.
The City Government has partnered with Gawad Kalinga and Big Bad Wolf that committed to fill the public library with books, Alag said.
Gawad Kalinga executive director Luis Oquiñena said they want to encourage more children to read.
“Those who are out on the streets, we want them to be in the library, to read books. We hope it will become a place where people can really discover the love for books, and for book lovers, a place where they can really read. We should be putting a lot of titles there,” he said.
The Gawad Kalinga built three libraries in the municipalities of Ginatilan, Dalaguete, and Argao in Cebu province and another one in the besieged City of Marawi.
Oquiñena said they plan to build 20 more libraries next year, with more than half of them to be constructed in Mindanao. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)