Mataram City Government Prepares Reading Corners in Community Health Centres to Boost Literacy

The Health Office (Dinkes) of Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province, is collaborating with the local Archives and Library Service (Diarpus) to prepare reading corner facilities in 11 community health centres (puskesmas) across Mataram City. “The provision of reading corners in every puskesmas is intended to improve public literacy in various fields, especially health,” said Head of the Mataram City Health Office, Emirald Isfihan, in Mataram on Saturday. He added that communication has been carried out with the Mataram City Diarpus and the 11 puskesmas regarding the preparation of specific locations or points within the health centre areas that are easily visible to visitors. The presence of these reading corners is expected to fill visitors’ time while waiting in queues at the puskesmas, thereby increasing public literacy from various reading sources, as the Diarpus has a diverse collection of books. “In addition to physical books, we are also proposing digital books to make it easier for visitors to read via their smartphones,” he said. Emirald is targeting the reading corners in puskesmas to be realised this year across all 11 health centres in Mataram City. Even if not all can be completed, he said, efforts will be made in several puskesmas, stressing that the programme must begin implementation this year. One of the obstacles faced by the health centres in preparing the reading corners is that many points within the facilities are already designated as health service spots. “Therefore, we will endeavour to have puskesmas that have an empty room or corner immediately turned into a reading corner,” he said. The programme is a shared initiative, with the Diarpus preparing the book collections and the Health Office preparing the reading corner facilities. For the collection, the Diarpus is providing various fiction and non-fiction books, including health-related collections and barcodes for digital book collections. “Visitors who want to read digital books simply scan the barcode and can then read anywhere within a maximum radius of 300 metres,” he said. It is hoped that through this collaboration to establish reading corners in puskesmas, it can foster a reading interest, bring book access closer to the community, and support the literacy movement from an early age while making public spaces enjoyable.