City of Joburg Library Services was the only African country selected to participate at the Taiwan Reading Festival from 2to 3 December 2022.
Johannesburg Library Services responded to a request from the Taiwan National Library for the submissions of posters. The Taiwan National Library selected 14 posters from 10 countries to encourage local librarians to learn from international libraries. The 10 countries selected where Argentina, Germany, Greece, Korea, Malaysia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates and the USA.
With over 150 booths and mobile libraries, the festival attracted over 2 000 visitors a day including children of all ages, local librarians and teachers.
The City of Joburg eLearning Manager Jeff Nyoka presented Joburg City Libraries at the festival. The poster was on the City of Joburg new Mobi-readathon Digital Reading Development Programme. The poster received a positive response from local communities and local librarians who were interested in learning about African libraries and innovations.
South Africa’s Ambassador to Taiwan, Hugh Anderson, also visited the National Library of Taiwan to view the poster and support the participation of South Africa at the festival. He congratulated the City of Johannesburg Libraries for being selected for as one of the outstanding poster submissions and participating in the Festival.
International Librarians were taken to library tours such as the Taiwan National Library, the newly built Taiwan City Library, the new National Chengchi University Library, the Taiwan Palace Museum and the new Open Lab Makerspace Library.
“Lessons from these tours and the reading festival will be shared with Joburg Libraries and National Library of South Africa to identify projects that can be introduced to local libraries,” said Nyoka.
International participants received certificates for outstanding poster and all 14 posters will be displayed at the National Library of Taiwan foyer for a month.
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