You could hear a pin drop in the pressing silence. Only the occasional rustle of pages being turned or a discreet cough broke the comfortable stillness at the Al Safa branch of the Dubai Public Library. While the place was far from teeming with visitors, those present were putting the facilities to good use. The librarian — a far cry from the severe, bespectacled image one commonly associates with those in the profession — greeted all queries with a friendly smile. Although the four rows of English language books paled in comparison to the vast collection comprising of Arabic literature, better library facilities are seeing residents return to a stronger reading culture in the region.

The Arab Human Development Report 2003 was damning in its assertion that the average Arab reads only six minutes a year. “Reading in Arab countries is below other developed countries,” concurs Mohammad Jassim Al Eraidi, Director of Public Libraries Department, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority. “Our library indicator shows that one book is borrowed yearly for every four persons in society. But a similar indicator in Western countries shows that every person borrows four books a year. So you can imagine the difference.

“Improvement requires efforts from all parties in society, including authorities, the media and families to make our society a reading one.” On a positive note, he adds that reading habits are on the rise because of “increasing education in society, leading to more demand in reading for different purposes.”

According to Al Eraidi, local libraries have seen more than 400,000 visits this year. Plans for new libraries in Mankhool, Al Barsha and Mizhar are already in the pipeline, with contemporary designs and facilities for both adults and kids.

For its part, the Sharjah government certainly isn’t lagging behind, having embarked upon the Knowledge Without Borders project last November. Its efforts to introduce reading facilities into every Emirati home, from the little known villages on the east coast to downtown Sharjah, have been hailed as nothing short of commendable. Furthermore, initial targets allocating 50 books each to 24,000 families have now been upped to 42,000 families, to be achieved by 2012.

“The initiative seeks to promote reading and help these families connect to their history better,” says Rashid Mohammed Al Khous, the project’s general director. With six phases in total, the next phase will occur in the Sajaa area in December, after the Sharjah Book Fair.

“The nearest library for people in some of these areas is at least a 30 minute drive away,” he explains. “As they lack their own facilities, His Highness Shaikh Sultan bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi instructed they be provided with some. Their education levels vary widely, so we’re careful to distribute the books accordingly. The families were extremely happy to receive the books and those we’ve yet to distribute to are eagerly enquiring about theirs.”

In the tiny city of Al Ain, American Stephanie Shimko has proved that reaching out to the community need not be an initiative restricted to the government. In August last year, Shimko began a book-sharing club in the area to allow easy access to books already available in their community. Her reasoning was simple: “Until Bawadi Mall opened this spring, there were no decent bookshops in Al Ain and no public library,” she says. “I was sitting around with piles of books I’d bought in Dubai and thought it such a shame they wouldn’t be used by other people. So I put them up on a website offering them to people who wanted to borrow them. I also made it possible for others to do the same with their used books.”

In only two weeks, she received several positive responses — and before she knew it, her first drop-off to a post graduate degree student was fixed. “I had a copy of the UN Charter from university that he wanted to use as a reference,” she recalls. “I felt excited as I got into the taxi to take me to the Starbucks. He was very accommodating and wanted to make sure that he wasn’t putting me out by his request. We chatted for a few hours about life and books; it was really nice to make such an acquaintance. I definitely felt a little more connected to the community at large.”

Bring up the subject of the 
challenges involved, and she promptly replies, “I don’t have a car. This is a huge problem in Al Ain since taxis are sometimes hard to come by.” Apart from this as yet unsolved dilemma, there’s the constant risk of losing the books she lends, but Shimko says she understood that at the outset. “I haven’t yet had someone not return a book. People who participate in this are usually considerate.”

She would, however, like to see more people participate by putting up their own libraries on the site. “Most people prefer to hand their books to me instead of creating a library on the site.  It creates a lot more work for me and makes my 
library harder to navigate. I also have to do all the drop-offs and pick-ups if they’re in my library. I think it would be very fulfilling if people got more involved.

“As an educator, I see kids all the time who think reading is stupid or for geeks,” Shimko, a grade six teacher at Al Dhafra Private School, Al Ain. “But they get so excited and engrossed in reading Treasure Island that they forget it’s something ‘geeky’. If a love and appreciation of reading can be instilled early, 
it sticks.”

A children’s author of 13 books since 1999, Kathy Hoopmann seconds that thought. When she first came to the UAE seven years ago, the market she saw held great potential — and still does. “There wasn’t a lot of literature for children back then; bookshops stocked titles from Disney. I couldn’t find anything to take home to my daughters in Australia. Today, the airport has a whole bank of region-related titles available.”

Hoopmann, whose books focus on Arabic culture and the region’s environment, explains, “Environmental issues are major concerns worldwide. When Brisbane recently went through a shocking drought, saving water was paramount to the point that washing your car was illegal. If you get kids to understand these basics at a really young age, they’ll realise people could get hurt because of their actions. Plus, kids also influence their parents a great deal from what they learn.”

It was through this that her illustrated educational books, such as Omar’s Goats, were born.

“Teachers in the region say kids are very enthusiastic about books but that interest doesn’t seem to hold when they get older,” she says, thoughtfully. “There aren’t a lot of opportunities for children to promote their reading/writing skills or be rewarded for their entry into the literary world, though the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature is an exception. By introducing relevant and topical books written in Arabic, reading habits for children here can only grow.”

In the four years since the inception of publisher Jerboa Books the demand for reading matter in English has been constant, while interest in Arabic books is increasing. Publications co-ordinator Jane Hodges notes: “In 2008, we published 42 books. By the year-end, we will have published 90 books: 60 per cent of them in Arabic. Jeremy Brinton, CEO of Magrudy’s, our sister company, says that the Arabic market has increased by 25 per 
cent this year, and the trend is set 
to continue.”

Celebrity fitness guru Rujuta Diwekar, whose star-studded clientele includes Kareena Kapoor, Anil Ambani and Preity Zinta, is looking to make her foray into Dubai on September 30 at DUCTAC, Mall of the Emirates, for the promotion of her first book titled Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight.

Speaking from India, she says she is “so looking forward to Dubai”, even though she’s never visited the emirate before. “Dubai is a place everybody aspires to be. I am no 
different. My clients in Dubai tell 
me that ‘sensible nutrition’ has a lot of potential because people are really spoilt for choices in terms of food there.”

As an author publishing her book in Dubai for the first time, she says, “I’ve been humbled by the way the book has been received in India and abroad. In India alone, it has sold over 66,000 copies — almost 
unheard of in the English non-fiction category. I am hopeful that people in Dubai will also like reading the book.”

The region is proving attractive not only to new authors, but new publishers as well. DC Books, started by the late DC Kizhakemuri, doyen of Kerala’s publishing industry, boasts an annual turnover of Dh750,000 and came to Dubai earlier this year. Its store in Karama, which sees about 50 customers daily on average, is home to 10,000 titles… and counting.

According to its publisher and CEO Ravi Deecee, “Approximately one million Malayalam-speaking people reside in the UAE. For them, DC Books has become a household name. Our main intention is to cater to their needs. Also, for publishers and booksellers from India, the Middle East is a good opportunity to expand business.”

“Reading is a very active hobby in Dubai. Many of our customers here buy books 
in bulk from India during their holidays, while also staying abreast of what is happening on the literature and reading fronts,” explains Deecee. “Regardless of the income level, an average Keralite is quite serious about reading everything from serious literature to current affairs.”

Of the many ways DC Books is currently strengthening its presence in the region, the most interesting is the campaign for labour camps to start libraries for free that it plans to roll out in a few months’ time. “We will donate books to around 50 libraries in the region to promote reading. Based on the progress, we intend to encourage them by providing more books.”

With 35 years of expertise in the industry, Deecee envisages a bright future. “The community in Middle East is getting into the exciting world of knowledge in recent years, whereas in many countries it’s still in a stage of stagnation. There is a very big growth potential for the publishing world in the Middle East in years to come.”

If your perception of a second-hand bookstore immediately brings dust and disorganisation to mind, House of Prose should change your opinion. Diverse, meticulously sorted in alphabetical order and far from musty, its American owner Mike McGinley started House of Prose 17 years ago to bring “cheaper reading” to the public.

“All the books here are sold at half the cost price. Customers can return them whenever they wish, to any House of Prose branch (including the Muscat store) and get 50 per cent of the price refunded in cash. Since many people had so many books they wanted to get rid of, it worked well.”

The concept has worked so well, in fact, that customers are in and out of the store all the time. “In these difficult economic times, we’ve seen a 15 per cent increase since last year.

Some pick up six books and return them the week after; others take 20 books for about two to three weeks. One of our Indian customers comes in every 10 days and buys Dh500 worth of books — and never returns them. I think he’s building up his own library,” says McGinley.

Seventeen years is a long time to be in an industry, and over the years McGinley has  watched trends come and go. “The genre of young adult fantasy fiction has changed a lot, with a lot more books like the Narnia series, Eragon and so on, available,” he comments. “I suppose they’re trying to attract more boys to read. Also, anything to do with vampires seems to be a big deal now.

“It’s true that girls read a lot more 
than boys,” he adds. “I see a lot more women come into the store than men. But reading habits also differ with 
nationality. About 65 per cent of my customers are Westerners; the rest are Asians — I’ve found Indians to be good readers — and a few UAE nationals.”

With time and the right initiatives, reading habits of the average Arab reader lasting only six minutes a year could soon be dispelled as a thing of the past. Now, that would be one for the books.

Email: karen@khaleejtimes.com