The CEO of Ghana Library Authority (GHLA), Hayford Siaw has said 2020 is a year of reading and learning.
He made the revelation during the 70th anniversary celebration of the organisation under the theme, “70 Years of Transforming minds through libraries”.
“In introducing new access points for the public to engage with GHLA libraries, we increased our network of libraries by nine from 61 to 70,” he said.
He also talked about the authority’s strategic plan of establishing a library in every constituency which he said would require political commitment as “we want leaders to promise the library authority that when they come into office they will support us.”
“People construct such facilities without consulting us and years down the line the places end up in bad state where communities will be calling on us to take over the place.”
According to him, a 48.10 per cent annual increment in library visits with improved membership of 12,665 in 2018 to 26,334 in 2019 was recorded as a result of various interventions initiated by the authority.
Hayford Siaw said that about 255,887 new books were added to the library stock while 25 libraries were renovated within the period.
