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By:
Besiana Dauti
- April 24, 2025 15:30 am
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The "Hivzi Sulejmani" library branch in "Taslixhe" is one of the richest spaces with children's book titles in the capital.
Of the children who come to borrow books here, a significant number are required by their teachers to read various readings, but there are also those who come simply out of a love of reading. Among them is 9-year-old Erika Karavitaj, a regular and passionate reader.
Erika, a 4th grade student at the "Gjergj Fishta" school, says she still remembers the first book she read. She adds that she received a very important message about life from it.
"The desire to read came after I realized that reading is an enrichment of knowledge, so I started reading. The first book was 'Keeping the Rules', it talked about animals who were building a cinema for small animals and there the little ones made a mess with juices and popcorn, breaking the rules. From this book I learned some rules: if I go to the cinema, I have to keep calm and not throw popcorn and juices," she says.
Books by foreign authors, according to her, are more attractive. So far, she has read over 100 of them.
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"I like books by foreign authors the most, but I also read Albanian authors. I am currently reading some Geronimo Stilton books, translated by Agim Doksani, and so far I have read 115 of them," she declares.
Erika says that her desire to read was born from the example she saw in her parents, who were passionate about reading as children.
"During the week I read up to 5-6 books and a day I read 2-3 books depending on how much the book attracts me, through which I get different information. The desire to read is in our whole family and my parents read as children and I even have a mini-library at home that my dad bought for me. When I grow up I will become a librarian or a laboratory assistant," she adds.
Librarian Afërdita Pacolli says that the library is constantly enriched with new titles that are mainly provided by the Municipality of Pristina, but there are also donors who want to contribute.
"In our library, children constantly read, because it is close to the schools 'Gjergj Fishta', 'Elena Gjika', 'Pjetër Bogdani'. We have students who receive books as an assignment from teachers, but a large number want to read on their own. We are well-stocked, but it would be better to have new titles. The municipality is the one that brings books, but donors can also bring them," emphasizes Pacolli.
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She says that little ones prefer books by foreign authors, but that are translated into Albanian.
"Students who read a lot usually take 4-5 books at a time that they can keep for 2 weeks, schools also engage students with books, grades 8-9 have been required to read 'The Castle', and the younger ones read more foreign authors that are translated into Albanian," adds Pacolli.
10 euros per year is the cost to read and borrow books from the library, but it is not uncommon for children to register for free.
"We have a solid fee of 10 euros per year, but some are exempt from the fee, but we also have different dates when we do free registration and at this cost I believe it is not high and whoever wants to read has the opportunity," emphasizes Pacolli.
The librarian calls on schools to require students to read books more.
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"We also collaborate with parents. Until I started working with children, I didn't believe they loved books so much, but we need to work hard with them to further encourage their desire to read. I prefer that children not have access to the internet. I appeal to schools to assign reading various books as homework," Pacolli declares.
9-year-old Erika continues to be one of the Library's regular readers, aiming to further expand her knowledge gained through books.
