Stark urban-rural and wealth gaps present real challenges for reading promotion in parts of Southeast Asia. Drawing on deep historical roots, the National Library of the Philippines and the National Library of Viet Nam use technology and innovative strategies—mobile book carts, online platforms, and social media—to overcome geographic barriers and bring reading and knowledge to every corner, working toward the ideal of "reading equity".
In both the Philippines and Viet Nam, national libraries not only preserve important historical records but have also developed diverse, public-oriented reading-promotion initiatives to meet the changing times. Director of the National Library of the Philippines Cesar Gilbert Adriano traces the library's development history, core functions, and overall reading promotion efforts, while Head of the Legal Deposit and Acquisitions Division at the National Library of Viet Nam Bui Thi Thuy explains how public libraries, guided by national policy, are building innovative, community-centered micro reading models.
National Library of the Philippines: From Preservation to Promoting Reading for All
Before gaining independence in 1946, the Philippines was ruled by Spain, the United States, and Japan; combined with the loss of 80% of the National Library's collection during World War II, preserving and maintaining documents has remained the library's top priority for decades.
Cesar Gilbert Adriano noted the library began a microfilm preservation program as early as the 1970s, and over half its budget during his nine years as director has gone toward preservation. Today, the library holds over 2 million historical documents along with digital archives and multimedia collections, making it the country's leading repository of cultural records. With preservation infrastructure now largely upgraded, the library has shifted more resources toward reading promotion, enforcing regulations requiring every administrative district and municipality to establish a public library.
Mobile Book Carts Reach Communities
A 2023 survey by the National Book Development Board - Philippines found only 42% of adults and 47% of children read books outside school assignments, citing low awareness of public libraries, fragmented reading time, and distance from physical libraries as key reasons. To boost reading, the library leads the annual "Library and Information Services Month" every November, coordinated across more than 1,500 public libraries nationwide, extending impact from communities and schools into every household.
The library established a Children's Library in 2006 offering age-appropriate resources, storytelling, puppet shows, and craft activities, and during its 2014–2019 renovation period used small mobile Book Carts to bring books and activities into communities and parks.
A Library Open to the Public
The 2020 pandemic halted in-person events but spurred the library to expand digital reading services, producing popular online children's programs covering crafts, puppet storytelling, and book discussions. These programs, spread via Facebook and YouTube, significantly raised the library's visibility, and online and physical services now run in parallel even after the pandemic. Notably, the library reserves one day each month to teach street children who are out of school, with staff guiding them in reading and literacy as part of its "open to the public" mission.
National Library of Viet Nam: A Reading Network from Center to Locality
Founded in 1917, the National Library of Viet Nam preserves over 2.5 million printed documents dating back to the 17th century along with numerous digital archives and provides professional guidance to libraries nationwide to build shared core values around reading culture.
Viet Nam's public library system spans provincial and communal libraries extending to communities, schools, cultural post offices, and even prison reading rooms, undergoing digital transformation to serve diverse readers—especially younger readers, who make up over half the population and increasingly rely on new technology to learn. Viet Nam's 2019 Library Law made developing reading culture a national policy priority, and overcoming the urban-rural gap has been the first step in implementation, pushing libraries toward a community-centered development model.
Small Innovations, Big Impact: "Light of Knowledge" Illuminates Rural Areas
To address resource gaps, Viet Nam's provincial libraries launched mobile book vehicles to reach remote areas, initially supported by international organizations from the Netherlands, France, and Singapore, and since 2016 expanded through the "Light of Knowledge" program—a partnership between the Vietnamese government and private enterprises that has built 44 fully equipped mobile library vehicles to date.
Bui Thi Thuy described the vehicles as mini learning centers carrying books, laptops, internet access, and digital learning tools, some offering dedicated services for visually impaired users, and noted they've become an educational resource for millions nationwide, incorporating popular STEM and science experiment courses.
Book and Reading Culture Day
Every April 21st, Viet Nam observes "Book and Reading Culture Day," originally led by the National Library and major provincial libraries and now a nationwide event joined by libraries, schools, bookstores, and communities, featuring exhibitions, author talks, book donations, reading and drawing competitions, and community bookshelves in rural and mountainous areas. Bui Thi Thuy called it an excellent example of national policy creating local impact through central-local cooperation and media engagement, emphasizing that "reading has no boundaries—everyone deserves equal access to it". She added that innovation isn't only about advanced technology but sometimes about new ways of reaching people, with Vietnamese public libraries planning more flexible, community-centered micro reading spaces combined with AI technology going forward.