Princesses donate over 100 books to library

THEIR Royal Highnesses Princess 'Azemah Ni'matul Bolkiah and Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bulqiah donated a total of 123 books yesterday to the Sengkurong Library, constructed as part of the Eighth National Development Plan (RKN8) to further promote reading culture in the country.

Deputy Director of the Language and Literature Bureau Hjh Aminah Hj Momin said that the books donated by Their Royal Highnesses would help to increase the different collections of books housed by the library.

"The books bestowed to us this evening, include genres such as travel, fiction and biographies in both English and Malay," said the deputy director.

"These books will be housed in a special room, open to all readers visiting the library," she added.

Books donated on the day included well known titles such as Dream from My Father by Barack Obama, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown and the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.

Hjh Aminah informed The Brunei Times that the princesses will continue to contribute to the development of the library as time goes on.

"This is not the first, and will not be the last time Their Royal Highnesses will contribute to the library," she said.

The library, yet to be officially launched, is the fourth and final branch to be opened under RKN8 in Brunei-Muara District, the ninth overall branch in Brunei.

It presently has a total of 9,168 books, 6,353 of which are in the Malay language while the remaining 2,815 are in English.

"At the moment this is the only community library in the area," said the deputy director, adding that the new library will cater to not only the needs of students but for the entire community including their teachers and parents as well.

Hjh Aminah said that the library, completed in September 2008, is strategically located for convenience purposes to make it more inviting for the Sengkurong community to read.

"This is part of His Majesty's titah to empower the people to read more, this is why we make it most convenient and comfortable for the people to visit the library," she said.

The deputy director then explained that the library will also be equipped with numerous study areas as well as the state-of-the-art facilities such as an internet equipped cyber room.

When asked what she felt of Brunei's reading culture, Hjh Aminah replied that sales from the recent Brunei Book Fair indicated a positive increase in the population's interest in reading.

"The participants (at the book fair) said that they could earn in excess of $5,000 to $6,000, meaning that the number of people reading books in Brunei is on an increasing trend," said the deputy director.

She also spoke of Brunei's campaign to empower reading culture, scheduled to be launched on June 2.

Gracing the event as the guest of honour to symbolically hand over the books was Her Royal Highness Princess 'Azemah Ni'matul Bolkiah.

Once launched, operating hours of the library will begin from 8am to 12pm followed by 2pm to 5pm, excluding Fridays. The official date of launching however could not be disclosed. (MJH1)

The Brunei Times