What's a Reading Room?

 

National Reading Rooms Program. México

 CONACULTA Books
For 16 years, the National Reading Rooms Program (NRRP) has worked together with state cultural officials nationwide under the auspices of the General Publications Division of Mexico's National Council for Culture and the Arts. Together, we have created an alternative way to bring books into communities, above all wherever there is limited access to written culture.
We conceive of reading as a motor for development and a key to equity, as well as a factor in identity and social engagement. And we know that in order to open a Reading Room, one most not only possess books that have been carefully selected for their worth and relevance to readers: one must support the training of mentors as well.

What's a Reading Room?

A Reading Room is a space where anyone, anytime, can sit down with a book and venture into the universe comprised by the words on its pages. At Conaculta, our mission is to bring books to every corner of the country. Today, far and wide accross the Republic of Mexico, over 4 thousand Rooms are actively holding sessions.
The way a Reading Room works is quite simple. The most important part is a volunteer: someone willing to share books and conversions with the members of his or her community. Next, a physical space is required. Size doesn't matter much. It might be a beautiful salon or someone's living room, a bakery or a public park; anywhere people of any age group can gather to read, converse, debate, and share all that they have discovered through their own readings or those others.

A mentor is...

Someone who dedicates his or her free time to professionally training for the task of reading promotion. Someone who invites, accompanies, proposes, advices and is willing to share, converse, answer questions, orient, comment, and even debate with all those who attend a Room.

Writers speak out about Reading Rooms

I feel that this sort of effort (Reading Rooms) is truly worthwhile. Reading restore reason to us, it is a great mental health project...When you read, you are no longer alone. To read is to sustain a dialogue, and where there is dialogue, the abolition of solitude has been decreed. Carlos Monsiváis

The best way to share reading is to approach children and use it to express your affection for them; that is when little ones really understand that reading is not just entertaining, it is also a way to provide love and warmth.  Juan Villoro