Promoting reading habit among residents

Indulging in the habit of reading no longer need be a luxury in Dubai.

This is the slogan of Book World, a new library-cum-bookstore recently opened in Satwa.
Book World offers about 20,000 books and provides a steady stream of new titles thanks to a innovative system of re-sale and purchase, which involves readers and members of the library.

"The bookstore works on the one hand as a library through membership subscriptions and on the other, it works as a bookstore," explained one of the staff members guided by Leena Sainani, Managing Partner. "Our library also sells the borrowed books at low prices and buys back the same books from its readers at half the price," he said. This policy has proved to be very successful, according to the director, who also manages Book World in Karama.

Book World's philosophy is that reading should not be an expensive habit. As such, it offers clientele the option to either borrow a book, or buy it.

The owner of the library, a UAE national who prefers not to be named, seeks to promote reading.

"The secret of our success is that we offer quality and quantity. People can find books from photography to management, from information technology to travel, from health to gardening, apart from fiction, classics, languages and all the sections you find in a traditional library," said the staff member. "Books cover all different sections and are in multiple copies so that it never happens that a reader cannot find the title he is looking for. So many times I have gone to a library only to find that the book I wanted has been lent out to another reader and I have to wait my turn." About 90 per cent of the titles are in English. The rest are in Arabic or other languages.

The first library was opened in Karama last year in June and was only lending books through monthly or quarterly subscriptions.

"The steady demand for new titles and for buying them turned the library into a bookstore, where all second hand books were sold half price or were discounted. After one year, the bookstore in Karama became too small to accommodate our clientele," he said.

"People of all nationalities and all ages were entering the library. We decided to open a new and larger shop and now our two libraries count around 40,000 books. But this is only the beginning."