Nahyan launches ‘Book Bank’ initiative

Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, has launched the “Book Bank” initiative to mark the UAE’s month of reading in March, which is one of the most important projects implemented by the ministry.

Shaikh Nahyan said the initiative stems from President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s declaration of 2017 as the Year of Giving.

Shaikh Nahyan said, the initiative has four main steps. The first step focuses on collecting books (used or new) from community members, institutions and publishing houses. Special boxes will be distributed across the country’s malls, cultural centres and schools for this purpose.

Then, these books will be classified and displayed in ‘Charity Book Exhibitions’, in the ministry’s centres across the UAE to be sold to the public at nominal prices. The third step is the ‘Knowledge Scholarships’, which focuses on supporting refugee camps with books and knowledge. In the last step, ‘Knowledge Volunteering’ will be implemented, allowing society members to participate in volunteer services, activities and programmes to promote reading.