Abu Dhabi residents read while shopping

Abu Dhabi: Adel Babiker makes it a point of visiting Mazyad Mall in Musaffah with his three children frequently — not for shopping but to read books.

Since he joined the community library at the mall three months ago, his family has been spending more time for reading.

“It is a nice opportunity for me and my school-going children to enrich our reading,” the 54-year old Sudanese American linguist adviser told Gulf News.

His children, Zainab, 12, Mohammad, 9, and Shaad, 5, said they liked the children’s section of the library very much and borrowed books from there regularly.

This is the first time the family living in Khalifa City was able to join a library after reaching Abu Dhabi four years ago.

The library managed by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA-Abu Dhabi) attracts book lovers from nearby communities on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi City such as Khalifa City, Musaffah, Mohammad Bin Zayed City, Al Reef, Al Mafraq and Baniyas.

“The response is great from the mall goers — more than 4,000 readers visited the library in 2013. Among them 1,120 were females, 1,630 males and 1,328 children,” a senior official told Gulf News.

The library’s location was selected taking into consideration the huge population in the nearby communities and a large number of elementary schools and other educational institutions, Abdullah Majid Al Ali, Director of Library Management at TCA-Abu Dhabi, said.

“There is a large number of children aged six to 12 in those areas. So we decided to launch a library branch dedicated to children and teenagers and the library was opened in February 2012,” he said.

Some working people spend their evenings at the library.

Musallam Al Katheri said his 8am to 5pm job makes it convenient for him to visit the library after work before going home. “When I read books, they change my life,” the 40-year-old Emirati working at Abu Dhabi Airport and living in Baniyas, told Gulf News.

“I take my children also to the library during the weekends; now they are also avid readers,” Al Katheeri said.

The 794-square-metre-library has more than 24,000 titles. It has and additional 2,000 titles for children, as well as general reading and children’s magazines.

This is the one of the two shopping mall libraries introduced by TCA-Abu Dhabi in the emirate. The second one is at Al Ain Mall in Al Ain.

This shopping mall library concept is to bring the library closer to the people and encourage a life-long reading habit, the official said.

“Shoppers can browse new books, families can drop into the library for story time and patrons can borrow books they want or read magazines,” Al Ali said. “Our aim is to reach all sections of the society — students, professionals and general readers, and all age groups. We have special services for special needs people who are interested in books,” the official said.