《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Voting opens on ‘must-go’ libraries

By Chan Shih-hung / Staff reporter

Yunlin County’s Douliou City （斗六） is urging people to vote for its European fortress-style Illustrated Books Library, in an attempt to win recognition as one of this year’s“Top 10 Must-Go Libraries” in the country.

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Douliou City Office Chief Secretary Peng Shih-jen （彭士人） said that the Illustrated Books Library in the city was styled on European castles and is the nation’s first library designed specifically for children.

With more than 30,000 volumes in its collection, Peng said that the library aims to create a fun and interesting reading environment for children.

He said that the city plans to turn the library into an educational model library using funds from the Ministry of Education.

Peng said that the city would like to educate people about Yunlin County, as well as farming and agriculture in Douliou, through a book donation drive for illustrated books on farming themes.

Douliou Mayor Hsieh Shu-ya （謝淑亞） said that the library is also improving its software.

The library has a “diversity reading project” that would allow Indonesian immigrants to read folk stories with their children through illustrated books, the mayor said.

Although online voting for the poll has just started, the library already has enough votes for the top 10 list, but since there are many competitors from larger cities that may have more supporters, Hsieh called on Yunlin residents to vote so that their local library wins.

The voting event is organized by the Library Association of the Republic of China and accepts online voting from now until Sept. 30.

All of the 68 libraries across the nation are on the candidate list.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES