Kosovars Seek Uplifting Reads Amid COVID-Related Anxiety

Demiri says only about 20 readers now come in daily compared to 200 or so before the health crisis started.

Kosovo shut its libraries and other cultural institutions in March to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The government reopened these sites to 40 per cent of their capacities in September.

But one continuing result is that more people want to borrow or buy books than read them in the libraries.

"We've had more than 2,753 books borrowed from the children's sector and more than 3, 200 from the grown-up category," Demiri said.

Sadik Tafarshiku Library is not the only library to experience a drastic fall in visitors in Kosovo.

Izet Miftari, from Naim Frasheri Library in Vushtrri, also says borrowing has slumped.

"The pandemic has affected reading; the number of books taken is much lower," Miftari said.

"Our reading room has been used by only 91 readers [since the pandemic] as most of the time the library was closed because of the coronavirus," he added.

Only around 100 new members were registered this year. Low membership has exacerbated the problem of maintenance.

So have cuts in the level of state support. Jejona Shyti, from the Ministry of Culture, Science and Technology, told Prishtina Insight that the ministry had supported libraries across Kosovo this year with only 50,000 euros. In 2019, they received 300,000 euros.

By contrast, the cost of breakfast, lunches and dinners for a one-week trip by a Kosovo delegation to Washington cost was more than 30,000 euros, BIRN found out. In 2019, central and local institutions in Kosovo spent 3.7 million euros on lunches.

Spike in purchases from bookshops

Sadik Tafarshiku Library, Ferizaj.

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