Director of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distributing Nguyen Nguyen says that much work still needs to be done to promote a reading culture in the country. (Photo tuoitre.vn) HCM City(VNS/VNA) - The increase in the number of published books cannot beequated with the growth of the local reading culture, experts said at arecent meeting held by the Vietnam Publishing Associationwith several publishers and book companies in Hanoi.
The publishingindustry has constantly grown, with Vietnam ranking first in SoutheastAsia in the number of titles published in a year. But the reading culture hasnot flourished, according to a report in Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
Nguyen Nguyen, Director ofthe Department of Publishing, Printing and Distributing under the Ministry ofInformation and Communications, said that three-quarters of formerministers and the deputy ministers of the ministry with whom herecently spoke agreed that the reading culture hasgone downhill.
Last year, thepublishing industry had 440 million copies of books and 37,100 titlesintroduced. This figure was equal to 4.6 books per person per year.
Compared to 2014,publishing revenue increased by 36 percent, while the number of copies ofbooks published rose by 16 percent and the number of titles published wentup by 30 percent.
However, of 440million copies of books introduced in 2019, up to 300 million copies,accounting for 84.5 percent, were textbooks and teaching materials.
Only 140 millioncopies were about "self-education", which was equivalent to 1.4 booksper person per year.
This has created aconflict in which the reading culture is neglected, while the number ofbooks in the market continues to increase, according to Nguyen.
“Valuable books arefew, while 'useless' books are countless,” he added.
"Books withmistakes can be fixed, but useless books cannot be. We are currentlychasing after quantity over quality, with 37,000 titles per year, rankingnumber one in Southeast Asia. Indonesia, with a population of morethan 200 million, only has 30,000 titles, while Thailand has 14,000 titles andMalaysia with 19,000."
"Considering thattheir people earn three to four times more than a Vietnameseworker, they have obviously chosen to 'dig deep' in the content oftheir book titles, while we are stressing the importance of quantity,”Nguyen said.
He noted that eventhough current reading statistics show positive signs, it does notmean that locals have truly embraced a reading culture.
Much work stillneeds to be done to develop this culture, he added.
Former Minister ofCulture and Information Le Doan Hop has pointed out that the numberof "useless books" is not less than 70 percent of the totalbooks in the market. During his five years as a minister, Hop saidthat he was offered “three tonnes of books”, but the number of valuableones was very limited./.
The publishingindustry has constantly grown, with Vietnam ranking first in SoutheastAsia in the number of titles published in a year. But the reading culture hasnot flourished, according to a report in Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
Nguyen Nguyen, Director ofthe Department of Publishing, Printing and Distributing under the Ministry ofInformation and Communications, said that three-quarters of formerministers and the deputy ministers of the ministry with whom herecently spoke agreed that the reading culture hasgone downhill.
Last year, thepublishing industry had 440 million copies of books and 37,100 titlesintroduced. This figure was equal to 4.6 books per person per year.
Compared to 2014,publishing revenue increased by 36 percent, while the number of copies ofbooks published rose by 16 percent and the number of titles published wentup by 30 percent.
However, of 440million copies of books introduced in 2019, up to 300 million copies,accounting for 84.5 percent, were textbooks and teaching materials.
Only 140 millioncopies were about "self-education", which was equivalent to 1.4 booksper person per year.
This has created aconflict in which the reading culture is neglected, while the number ofbooks in the market continues to increase, according to Nguyen.
“Valuable books arefew, while 'useless' books are countless,” he added.
"Books withmistakes can be fixed, but useless books cannot be. We are currentlychasing after quantity over quality, with 37,000 titles per year, rankingnumber one in Southeast Asia. Indonesia, with a population of morethan 200 million, only has 30,000 titles, while Thailand has 14,000 titles andMalaysia with 19,000."
"Considering thattheir people earn three to four times more than a Vietnameseworker, they have obviously chosen to 'dig deep' in the content oftheir book titles, while we are stressing the importance of quantity,”Nguyen said.
He noted that eventhough current reading statistics show positive signs, it does notmean that locals have truly embraced a reading culture.
Much work stillneeds to be done to develop this culture, he added.
Former Minister ofCulture and Information Le Doan Hop has pointed out that the numberof "useless books" is not less than 70 percent of the totalbooks in the market. During his five years as a minister, Hop saidthat he was offered “three tonnes of books”, but the number of valuableones was very limited./.
VNA
