A MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF RAKAN SARAWAK BULLETIN (People, events, activities and programmes which make for a total quality-managed Sarawak Civil Service) ISSN 1394-5726

Online Publisher:          Contents provided by:	A Closer Look at the Village Libraries in Padawan Municipal Council Padawan Municipal Council prides itself as the council in Sarawak with the most number of village libraries Perhaps not known to many, Padawan Municipal Council (PMC) prides itself as the council in Sarawak which has the most number of libraries. To date it has 32 libraries situated all over this sub-district. Inculcating the habit of reading among the people in the community is one of the noble reasons why the PMC is continuously exerting efforts to put up more village libraries. However, there is more to discover and reflect on behind the book shelves as discovered by Rakan Sarawak. The financial support of the State Government is the starting point. But the cooperation of the community and the level of commitment of the Padawan Municipal Council have been the strongest factors why the libraries remain functional to this day. In projects like this, sustainability is the real test where the civil servants and the community itself play the lead roles. How PMC monitors these libraries is a great challenge as these are not all accessible by ordinary mode of transport. "Some village libraries like the Kampung Sait requires at least 5 hours travel on foot inclusive of crossing two wooden bamboo bridges," stressed En Davis Herould Awelle, Officer-in- Charge of library matters at PMC. "We have devised a system where we ensure that all these libraries will receive the allocated books and newspapers in due time", added Mr Then Hon Nyian, Public Relation Officer at PMC It's reading time at Kampung Bawang Library ... there is more to discover and reflect on behind the books shelves. In line with this, PMC conducted its first Reading and Comprehension Competition in 1996 and banking on the success of this first undertaking, the competition has since then become an annual event. It is noteworthy that the standard of reading and level of comprehension among the participants had dramatically increased from a mere 40.68% in 1996 to 72% in 1999. One of the most accessible is Kampung Bawang Library located at 17th mile. It caters to an average of 20 students per day Monday to Saturday. This library is open on a half-day basis and is manned by a Library Assistant employed by PMC on a contractual basis. The first library was set up in 1976 and from then on, more and more libraries were built. The year 1989 for Padawan Municipal Council was memorable as PMC garnered State awards for their libraries, The Model Library Award, among others. The PMC continues to attract more applications from the village heads to build a library in their premises.
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