By GRACE S. UDDIN | Davao Today
Davao City — For those who want to read but who are running out of few good books to widen their horizons, an alternative reading center has just opened in Davao.
Located at the Lions Club Building along McArthur highway in Matina, the Doa Luisa Villa Abrille Memorial Library features varied collections, ranging from college textbooks to economic publications; books published by Ibon to Chinese books and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines publications.
One will find plenty of books and magazines at the Doa Luisa Villa Abrille Memorial Library. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)
Since February 16 this year, the library is open from 9 am to 4:30 pm from Mondays to Fridays. For walk-in readers, the books are good only for reading inside the library. But members of the Book Club have the privilege of taking the books at home and return it at the prescribed time.
A joint- project of the Davao Association of College and Schools (DACS), the Davao City Lions Club and the Kyabaan Association, Inc. (KAI), the library center is the first of its kind in Davao city, seeking to provide an alternative reading center for the public and as a support facility for public and private school libraries.
Jimmie-Loe de la Vega, Davao Association of College and Schools executive director, says the library seeks to develop reading habits of people and enhance social awareness of the Davao community. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)
Named Dona Luisa Villa Abrille Memorial Library the center pays tribute to its late member Wang Shu Shin, also a book lover, according to Bio Kun T. Hao, Governor of Lions Club. Dona Luisa Villa Abrille was Wang Shu Shin’s mother.
The librarys 15×8 sq. m. floor area is practically filled with lots of books.
Thanks to the Lions Club, which offered its building space for free, one will find plenty of Chinese readings, ranging from Chinese arts, culture and society to magazines and Chinese story books such as Spring Silkworms by Mao Tun, Chinese stories compiled by Jiao Bo, Lovely Land by Yang Shuo, Pu Songling Selected Tales of Liao Zhai, The Butterfly and Other Stories by Wang Meng can be found in the library.
The library also features progressive books like Unyonismo sa Pilipinas by Dante Guevarra, Crisis and Class Struggle, KMU: Building Genuine Trade Unionism in the Philippines 1980-1994 by Kim Scipes, Turning Rage into Courage Mindanao Under Martial Law and the Philippine Society and Revolution.
