“Booster charge” for a bibliophile

Recently, the first Ukrainian innovative “Mobile Library” opened on 19-21 Khreshchatyk Street. The library stores virtual books instead of real ones. Anyone, who has a phone, smartphone, or tablet, can become a reader here. Backs of books have special QR-codes, which allow users to download a book in electronic format for free through the public Wi-Fi network. There are books to suit any taste here: more than 500 books, including classics, as well as works by contemporary Ukrainian and foreign authors, including Andrii Kurkov, Serhii Zhadan, Liubko Deresh, Maryna and Serhii Diachenko, and others. The book initiative was launched by mobile operator “MTS Ukraine” with the support of the Kyiv City State Administration.

A social campaign called “Bring a printed book and get 500 electronic ones for it” was held at the opening of the virtual public library. All the books that were brought will be donated to village libraries and orphanages. Thus, the innovative library helped traditional libraries apart from encouraging fans of new technologies for reading.

In other countries similar initiatives are primarily organized to revive the sales of paper and electronic books, as well as visiting libraries. They offer only fragments of books for free access. And if a reader got hooked up on a particular book, he can then buy it or borrow from the library. For example, three students from the School of Advertising in Miami posted “Underground Library” in the cars of the New York metro. It was a poster with books and QR-codes on them. People could download only the first ten pages of any book. However, on their way out of subway a map with labels of the closest bookstores or libraries with this book available there popped up on their smartphone. According to the developers, such approach can increase interest in reading and visiting libraries, which are not very popular these days. The same approach has been used for Virtual Library in Romanian metro. It was a joint project of a mobile operator and one of the publishing houses. People can download parts of books, read them, and then buy the full copy if they liked it. In Saint Petersburg, such posters with books placed in two metro stations work as advertising of a publishing house that specializes in electronic books. There you can download classics and fairy tales for free, but the newly published books have to be purchased. These libraries keep passengers entertained during long trips in the metro and help libraries and publishers attract new readers and increase demand for books, including the commercial demand. In Ukraine people can download books in full and for free from the virtual library for now. Don’t waste such opportunity.