IPS-English CULTURE-CHILE: Free Book Selections for 400,000 Families
 
Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 15:20:35 -0700

 
Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, May 15   (IPS)  - The Chilean government has begun distributing
carefully selected packages of books to thousands of low-income families.
But the programme aimed at promoting reading is not without its detractors,
who question the extent of its real impact.

”I see the box of books as a prize, because my kids and I are good
readers,” 35-year-old Viviana Placencio, a mother of three children
between the ages of six and 12, told IPS. 

When she asked why her family was chosen to take part in the programme,
she was told that it was due to their impoverished circumstances and
to the fact that she frequently checks books out of the neighbourhood
library.

Placencio, who separated from her husband four years ago, works in
a rural clinic in the district of Isla de Maipú on the outskirts of
Santiago.

”My kids are fascinated with the 1,000-page encyclopedia, and I always
wanted to read ‘One HundredYears of Solitude' by Colombian writer
Gabriel García Márquez,” she said with enthusiasm.

Although there are already books in Placencio's house, most of the
families selected by the programme don't have any.

Placencio and her children were among 25 families invited by Chilean
President Michelle Bachelet to an Apr. 23 ceremony at the seat of
government, where the first boxes of books were distributed, to mark
World Book and Copyright Day.

Bachelet said the programme was the central cultural initiative of
her government.

Similar experiences have been carried out in other Latin American
countries, like Argentina and Colombia.

”These are targeted actions promoted by the state to encourage reading
and increase access to books in a democratic fashion,” Nivia Palma,
head of the Directorate of Libraries, Archives and Museums (DIBAM),
which is coordinating the project, told IPS.

Although good school, university and public libraries guarantee widespread
access to books, ”there are populations that are hard to reach, poor
families who feel excluded from the social system, and it is necessary
to seek more specific mechanisms to get to them,” said Palma.

”By creating this programme, the president is telling the country
that books are very important,” she said. ”Reading books offers a
more sophisticated and complex access to knowledge, and allows us
to develop our imagination and creativity, internalise and absorb
vocabulary and language, and develop reading, writing and speaking
capabilities and critical skills.”

This year, 133,000 low-income families who have at least one child
in grades one through four will benefit from the programme. To reach
that goal, the government purchased 1.266 million books, through a
public tender, at a cost of 4.6 million dollars -- thus giving a major
boost to the local publishing industry at the same time.

Palma said that in 2009, the government will spend an additional
11 million dollars on the project.

By the end of Bachelet's term in March 2010, some 400,000 families
in this country of 16 million people will have received the selection
of books, handed out in orange plastic boxes containing nine or 10
volumes each, through the municipal libraries, said the president.

Since Bachelet announced the project in May 2007, it has drawn criticism,
mainly from writers and intellectuals, even though the panel that
selected the books was made up of leading figures from the local literary
scene.

The criticism has focused on a range of aspects, from the number
of books to be included in the package to the works that were chosen.
Critics have also wondered how the programme's impact and results
are to be evaluated, and described it as an ”isolated” initiative.

Chilean poet Reynaldo Lacámara, president of the Association of Chilean
Writers (SECH), called it a superficial welfare-style measure that
was not likely to have a real impact.

The distribution of the books should have been accompanied by a ”national
reading comprehension plan,” because otherwise there is a risk that
the families will sell the books or even swap them for drugs, Lacámara
told IPS.

The president has retorted that criticism along these lines merely
reflects prejudice against low-income people.

For her part, Palma said ”We have always seen the programme as complementary
to the work of the public libraries, which for us is the central focus.

”The country's public libraries carry out thousands of activities
year-round to encourage reading, both general and targeted, among
children and the elderly, for example, in which writers also take
part,” she explained.

”At the same time, the state finances projects around the country
presented by writers, librarians, city governments, corporations,
youth groups and others, aimed at promoting reading and bringing books
to people. This project hasn't just emerged from a vacuum,” she said.

The government has also invested millions of dollars in the construction
of libraries in the roughly 20 municipalities in Chile that had none.
The ambitious undertaking got underway in 2006 and is to be completed
by 2010.

Lacámara argued that in order to foment reading habits, the price
of books should be lowered (by means of an exemption from the 19 percent
value-added tax, or at least a reduction in the tax in the case of
books), and set prices should be established for literary works. He
also called for closer contact between local writers and the population
at large.

Although a reduction in the value-added tax on books is not being
considered by the government, opening up a serious debate on the question
is, said Palma.

In her view, the high price of books in Chile is a result of the
fact that 70 percent of them are imported, mainly from Europe, and
that the Chilean market is small, with print runs that are generally
of less than 1,000.

The books selected for the programme include a multi-field encyclopedic
dictionary, works of non-fiction and fiction, and adult and child
poetry, by both Chilean and foreign authors.

The Chilean volumes include ”The Book of Questions” by Nobel Literature
Prize-winner Pablo Neruda ((1904-1973), ”Cape Horn” by Francisco Coloane
(1910-2002), and ”Myths and Legends of Chile” by Floridor Pérez (1937-
).

Critics complained, for example, about the absence of the children's
classic ”Papelucho” by Marcela Paz (1902-1985) and works by the international
best-selling author Isabel Allende.

Among the foreign works are ”The Little Prince” by French author
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944), ”The Metamorphosis” by Czech
writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924), ”One HundredYears of Solitude” by
Colombian Nobel Literature laureate Gabriel García Márquez (1928-
) and ”The Happy Prince and Other Tales” by Irish poet and playwright
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900).

Palma explained that the impact of the programme would be evaluated
through two different mechanisms. The first will be quantitative in
nature: a measurement of how many of the families who received books
ended up joining their local libraries.

In addition, a public tender is to be held this year, inviting universities
or perhaps other institutions to carry out a qualitative assessment
of the programme.

The goal is to find out whether the beneficiaries actually read the
books, what impressions they had, their experiences as a family, what
kind of relationship they have with public libraries, whether they
shared the books with friends or relatives, and what has happened
to their books, said Palma.

”This programme is a symbol for the country, and I think it will
open up many more doors than people imagine. I believe the prejudices
are fading away,” said Palma.


*****
+ EDUCATION-ARGENTINA: A Library Per Household - 2007 (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37995)
+ ARGENTINA: Bringing Preschool Education to the Slums - 2006 (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31980)


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