The annual literary and cultural celebration dedicated to books, authors, storytelling, and literacy is taking place throughout the month of June, with events for adults, teens, and children.
Ahead of the great book celebration on June 11th, the library network published impressive data on the reading habits of city residents.
As every year during Reading Month, the library network shares the impressive reading data of city residents.
The city invests heavily in encouraging reading, through librarians in schools from elementary to high school, and in the 3 public libraries. Subscriptions for city residents are free of charge.
The old Mor High School library, integrated with the public library in Reut, was renovated last year. As part of the renovation, we said goodbye to the carpet and its memories, and we renewed it with white bookcases and an inviting design. You are welcome to come to the library and open a new subscription or come to one of the many cultural activities that take place there.
And while we're on the subject of innovations, independent libraries will soon be set up in several places in the city for the benefit of the reading public, so that you can read as close to home as possible.
What does encouraging reading in the city actually look like? School libraries hold library meetings and special projects such as fairs to mark Hebrew Language Week, the annual book parade, and author meetings.
Reading enriches childrens’ worlds and advances them in the field of language. It's encouraging to know that despite the screens in one hand, quite a few students in the city hold a book in the other hand.
Although access to libraries was unfortunately more limited this year due to the war, last year children read even more and borrowed 51,494 times in school libraries, and 140,966 children's and young adult books in public libraries (compared to 96,000 last year). Of these, 56,429 were toddler books. Well done to the parents who invested.
The most beloved and most read books in schools and public libraries this year:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid/Jeff Kinney
The Dog Man and the Puppy Writer/Pilky Bear
The Sisters/Telgemeier Raina
The Fate of Apollo/Ric Reardon
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone/J.K. Rowling
Of course, children do not come to libraries alone, the family comes too - 2883 new family subscriptions were opened this year (compared to 1530 last year), which are part of 7500 (compared to 7333 last year) active subscribers this year. Readers could choose from 97,989 books in the library collection, 4469 of which were books added in the past year. With all this abundance, it is no wonder that 217,299 books were borrowed (compared to 167,000 last year). Of these, 72,068 were adult books, and 10085 were non-fiction books. The most popular genres this year are also thrillers, historical novels, and of course, how can we do without romance?
And what about the digital library? 14% (compared to 11% last year) of our readers also like to read digitally and borrowed 20,365 books, an increase of 62% from last year, thanks to our investment in a private shelf for city residents within the Israeli digital library (“Libi”).
Your list of recommendations this year by the number of borrowings -The Silent Patient/ Michaelides Alex
The Temptation of Gracie/ Montefiore Santa
To Step into Her Shoes/ Moises Jojo
The Wedding of Others/ Alison Espach
Thieves' Ladder/ Lior Engelman
Our city libraries have long been not only a place for books but also for meetings and culture. During the past year, we held 115 activities in which about 6,000 participants participated. 68 story hours to encourage reading, including story hours for those with special needs, 10 writer meetings for children, youth and adults. In addition, this year we added to our activities small and popular workshops with dogs to encourage reading.
As every year, writing workshops for children, youth and adults were also held as part of our writing school "Milim", alongside performances, plays, creative workshops, fairs and events to promote writers from the city.
The rich activity is led by a team of professional librarians and volunteers of all ages who help arrange the books, operate the home book service, repair and wrap books. This is the opportunity to say to them on behalf of all of us, “Thank you!”
What awaits this month as part of the celebration? A variety of story hours and a large book celebration on 11.6.26 starting at 17:00, which includes the local literature fair on the lawn of the Schechter Library. Here you will find the books by over 50 writers from the city, and you can get them signed, musical performances for the whole family and adults, and activities for children on the lawn and in the library. Admission is free, details on the municipality website.
