The Biblio Pop Expo began this Tuesday, July 25 and Wednesday, July 26, the popular libraries of San Juan showed the available material and the workshops they give in them, in a fair that is based at the Conte Grand Cultural Center. There, 20 locations received thousands of San Juan students of different levels.
There were drawing workshops on the first day. PHOTO: Gastón Vargas//DIARIO HUARPE
During the fair they showed the material that was acquired at the 2024 Book Fair, which mainly consists of manga, comics and American comics. This to bring kids closer to reading.
Expo Biblio Pop comes in line with the current government’s promotion of reading. Among the measures that point to this are the literacy plan and the next conference, on the same topic, which will take place next Friday, June 28.
During the fair, in addition to the venues with books and displays of their workshops, there were also collectors with figures, cosplayers and literary and drawing workshops. What stood out the most, both from the organization and from the librarians, was the enormous participation of the students of San Juan.
From the library shelf to everyone
“It is the first time we have made this call and we are happy to see the number of students who joined. We want to bring the libraries closer and let the kids know that they exist and that they are close to their homes,” commented Federico Caballero, director of Popular Libraries.
The exhibition of figures captivated the little ones. PHOTO: Gastón Vargas// DIARIO HUARPE
“There are collectors, workshops, cosplayers interacting with the kids. The idea was for them to have another contact with books. We know that they are readers, especially of manga and comics, but we want to reinforce that,” he added.
Eduardo Varela Oro, Secretary of Culture, said that “with this we reinforce the commitment to address a problem that affects our children, who do not understand what they read. So from this administration we are launching this battery of measures focused on literacy.”
The importance of libraries
Finally, Yésica Costa, BP Juana Azurduy librarian, commented that despite initially being within the budget cuts at the national level, in the end no such funding cut was made. However, due to the economic crisis, they did notice an increase in members in the last quarter.
The librarians showed the material in the libraries. PHOTO: Gastón Vargas//DIARIO HUARPE
“Many of the kids don’t even pay the fee, but we can’t leave them without material. In our context, we help kids with dictionaries and manuals, in addition to workshops,” he added.
