But the promotion of reading is another issue. It is, in fact, a problem that stares us in the eye, so to speak. The issue cannot just be addressed to the narrow one of how to make the students and professional researchers who make up the bulk of the library patrons to visit the library more often. It also touches on another issue which the library has little control of -- this is the issue of how to make them read when they are outside the library, for reading cannot just be confined to library settings alone. Reading is an activity that can be done anywhere, anytime whenever people have the spare time and the interest for reading.

This article, thus, identifies two relevant issues in the library-reading connection:

1. How to make the library a place conducive to and comfortable for reading to all who want to research or find the information they need in the library, and 

2. How to make the general public love reading in the first place.

Let's tackle the two issues mentioned one by one. The first one is actually improving the image of the library. The issue also depends on the library and the librarians for its resolution. Well, the root of the issue may be traced to what things come to most people's minds upon hearing the word "Library." In the Philippines, libraries are often poorly provisioned. Books in many libraries of the country are obsolete, worn-out and dusty. Who would like to read such books?

Libraries are also uncomfortable places. Facilities are terrible. Long tables are still seen when the objective is to give the patron the much-needed concentration. How can he or she concentrate when there are ten patrons also sharing the same table! Because some patrons have other gestures like frequent movements and, oh, in the Philippines, they make the library table a gossiping place! So, how can the serious reader continue reading? Long tables were common in the old libraries because they minimize space. But now, with the computers and CDs, spaces for patrons must be individualized cells or cubicles.

Moreover, libraries are poorly ventilated. In a hot country like the Philippines, some libraries do not even have electric fans. For the comfort and concentration of patrons, the reading rooms must be air-conditioned.

Lastly, libraries do not have clean comfort rooms -- or they do not have at all. The poor patron has to go out to some other office nearby and request the employees there to use the toilet. In other words, great inconvenience is suffered and time is lost between going out and coming back to the reading rooms.

Besides the holdings and the facilities, there is also the question of the services of the librarians. In many previous studies about the patrons' perceptions on the attitudes of librarians, the predominant revelation was that librarians were unapproachable or condescending. In Filipino, the word is "masungit" and "suplada." Thanks to feedback from patrons and trainings given to librarians, these attitudes have gradually changed. But the image still sticks because there are still librarians who remain unaffected by the need for public relations.

What does this imply in terms of the promotion of reading? It only means that libraries must change their image. Libraries must be thought of as near-to-the- ideal setting of pleasurable and concentrated reading. Libraries must then have updated books and other reading materials. Libraries must be provided with great ventilation that makes people move around comfortably and read without inconvenience. Lastly, libraries (I am speaking of the Philippines in this case) must have very clean, fragrant, and spacious toilets that one may even desire to lounge and linger around, or even read a book inside it for minutes.

Of course, money is the problem. In a poor or developing country, nothing or little can be accomplished towards this realization. But with a pound of will, I would say that the money problem vanishes.

The second issue is, I'm afraid, related to the conditions in a country. From my observation and travel to some countries, some inhabitants in a country seem to be very much into reading. They read a lot and everywhere I go I see many who quietly read a book or a newspaper.

But in the Philippines or perhaps other countries in similar economic straits as the Philippines, poverty becomes a barrier to the promotion of reading. People are all thinking only of how to survive, and their thoughts are just occupied with where to earn one's livelihood, where to get the money to eat for the day's meals, and where to get the money to pay one's rents and debts. Low salaries make them always think of how to cope with living especially when the children (and in the Philippines, the number of children goes on average at either five or six in a family) are growing and going to school. How can people then have time for pleasurable reading and time to go to the library for their readings?

If this is the case, how can the government and the national library promote reading beyond the confines of the library? Well, despite the busy lot of parents, the library can only depend on them as partners to motivate their children to read -- and to read more. For home is one place where people read. One may read in the sala, in the porch or veranda, or in the bedroom. Parents may be persuaded to be the national library's partner by requesting them to have little time putting up short notices on the wall, subscribing to one newspaper or magazine, and converting one corner in the small house for books and newspapers, and showing to the children that they also read a lot.

One time in the Filipinos' recent past, parents who were not busy then, read the stories in books to their children. The mother sat and held the book and told a story from the book while her children also sat around their mother and listened to her stories. It is a perfect picture of initiating the children to love reading. But now that picture no longer is true. Parents allow their children to view TV programs or watch VCDs or DVDs of films on their computer screens. Parents also watch TV a lot and have neglected a responsible duty towards their children.

I suggest that, maybe, the national library or other national libraries with similar conditions as the Philippines should be the lead agency in promoting reading. They must be visible in the mass media, and promoting reading in every way. They can go on TV or radio and plug in the message to parents to have spare time to read with their children. Positive values must be instilled in the minds of the general public especially the poor masses.

Advertisements on TV, in moviehouses during intermissions, and giant billboards may have to be undertaken. Reading contests (not fast reading but reading for understanding contests) must be sponsored often. The formats of the contest must be conducted as lively and as modern as TV game shows. The children who win the contest must be honored and given prizes or scholarships. Their parents must also be given incentives for having such wonderful children.

The national library may also promote reading by tapping charitable individuals and agencies. These people donate books to libraries and funds to improve library facilities but their efforts are isolated. The national library in a country may consolidate all of their resources to have a lasting impact on reading promotion. For example, here is one individual in the Philippines -- and he is a popular basketball player -- who put up libraries and installed computer facilities in public schools nationwide. Then there is Visine, a company on eye health products, which launched an aggressive campaign called "Read to Lead." The campaign goes around malls to encourage youngsters to pick up a good book and gain knowledge by reading (Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 27, 2002, p. E2).

If national libraries can tap these willing people together, the impact would be overwhelming. But here they are, each one doing his own thing and the impact is minimal. I am sorry to say that even if I suggest this, the National Library in the Philippines has also not been able to do the orchestration precisely because of factors which are beyond the scope of this article, most of these factors being cultural and historically-rooted.

Despite all these problems, reading must be actively promoted, and the leading agency must be the national library in each country. I say "actively" because a partial or lukewarm promotion will not bring in concrete results. Active means intense and sustained. 

Lastly, if the parents, charitable individuals and organizations, NGOs and business firms which may be tapped for this purpose, see that the government through the national library is sincere and serious in their reading promotion, they will be convinced and willing to share the sacrifice.