- This award, given by the Ministry of Culture and Sport, recognises the best reading promotion initiatives in public libraries throughout Spain.
- Thanks to this recognition, the library will receive a subsidy of 2,777 euros to reinvest in its bibliographic collection.
The Library of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell has received the María Moliner award for reading promotion for the seventh year in a row. This award, given by the Ministry of Culture and Sport in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), recognises the best reading promotion initiatives of public libraries in municipalities with less than 50,000 inhabitants. Thanks to this recognition, the library will receive a subsidy of 2,777.77 euros to reinvest in its bibliographic collection.
Among the best projects chosen for 2024 is the one from El Poble Nou Library ‘Fulfilling Dreams’, which outlines two of the biggest challenges achieved by the library in recent years. ‘Reaching the tenth edition of the competition ‘A mascot for the library’ has been quite a challenge,’ said the librarian, Lola Bolufer. ‘We have to underline the great reception it has had over the years among the children of the town, fulfilling one of our objectives of bringing the library closer to the youngest ones. A library close to them that invites them to create a drawing and then turn it into a cuddly toy that will be the library’s mascot for a year’.
Another of the ‘dreams’ achieved has been the adaptation of the ‘Baby Library’, a room dedicated to babies and their families to read, play and learn, and where future or new parents can find books of interest for the upbringing of their children. This is a space that makes the Library, even more so, an active centre for meeting and promoting reading with activities for all ages.
A plan to promote reading from the cradle onwards
This year’s campaign continues to be part of the project started in 2019 ‘Reading hand in hand’, and continues to recruit members to the MenutClub, whose main objective is to encourage the use of the library from the first months of life, creating a reading habit from a very young age and encouraging family activities.
Within the framework of the reading promotion plan, activities such as the competitions ‘A mascot for the library’ (drawing competition), ‘A town that writes and lives’ (micro-stories) or ‘El Poble Nou en vers’ (micro-poems) have been carried out.
Also presentations of books such as ‘Simfonia del temps’, by Lídia Santacreu; ‘Bragat, el gat influencer del Puig Llorença’, by Empar Ferrer; ‘Pesqueres de cingle a la Marina Alta. Estudi etnogràfic i històric’, by Antoni Barber and Miquel Almenara; “Històries de lluna vella” and “Soldats de lleva”, by Josep Colomer; “El pozo de los silencios”, by Amparo Murgui; La cabra Serafina’, by Blai Senabre; “Després de maig, abans de l’estiu”, by Jovi Lozano; “Al-Azraq, el malson de Jaume I” and “La Marina en caiac”, by Just I. Sellés; ‘Totes les portes’, by Naskunur Garberga, or ‘La cova de les Bruixes del Poble Nou de Benitatxell i l’arqueologia’, by Miquel Sánchez i Signes.
Other highlights include storytelling, baby storytelling, conferences, the series of talks for families, various activities such as ‘Bevem Estellés’ and the different exhibitions held at the reading centre. Young people also have their own spaces with workshops on study techniques, 3D, video game design and typing and office automation courses.
In addition, two years ago the ‘Library at home’ was created, a free home book lending service that seeks to promote and bring reading closer to people with accessibility or mobility difficulties.
