The photo taken on Nov. 8, 2018 shows a bookmobile created by sanitation workers in Ankara, Turkey, stopping on the street. (Xinhua/Burak Akinci)
ANKARA, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Garbage collectors in the Turkish capital Ankara, who decided to give discarded books a new life, have created a unique bookmobile that will tour schools in suburban districts to instill the passion for reading in children.
The campaign started last winter with sanitation workers of the Cankaya district municipality collecting books from the garbage for fellow workers and their families to borrow.
But after almost a year of development, this campaign has grown into a 9,000-book library serving a larger community.
Thousands of books donated, sent by post or collected by the sanitation workers are still waiting to be catalogued and shelved, showing a growing local interest in the campaign.
The sanitation worker's collection of books, divided in some 20 categories including politics, philosophy, drama, thrillers, romance, history, literature, healthy living and economics, is housed in a former brick factory with long corridors, where dozens of people now visit every day to borrow books.
The photo taken on Nov. 8, 2018 shows the interior of a bookmobile created by sanitation workers in Ankara, Turkey. (Xinhua/Burak Akinci)
"The interest is growing. Each day we have guests coming here to borrow books or have a quite time to read," Emirali Urtekin, director of the "factory library," which also includes a cafeteria and a barber house, told Xinhua.
As for the bookmobile designed for school children, Urtekin explained that the mobile library is converted from a garbage collection vehicle, and will begin its trips in late November to remote schools of Ankara Province.
With a total population of 5.5 million people, the Turkish large capital province Ankara is divided into 25 districts, where not all schools have the privilege of having a reading room or being built near a public library.
The Cankaya municipality hopes that this scheme will inspire the children in Turkey, mostly more interested in computer games than reading, to find delight in the magical world of books.
The photo taken on Nov. 8, 2018 shows a bookmobile created by sanitation workers in Ankara, Turkey, stopping on the street. (Xinhua/Burak Akinci)
"We are planning to visit all districts of Ankara one by one in the coming months. Some schools have already informed us that they would be very eager to receive us," said Urtekin.
While Turkey does have its own public library system, run by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Education, Turkey's Daily Sabah newspaper warned in 2017 that there was just one public library for every 70,000 people in Turkey, well below the EU level.
The bookmobile is currently packed with 2,000 collected and donated children's books expected to raise their curiosity and interest. Nearly 1,000 more will be added in a couple of months after being sorted out by categories.
There is also a relaxation space on the roof of the bookmobile where children can read and talk.
"We have books here for children aged from 6 to 10 but also books for older children, like world classics and fiction novels. We hope that it will amuse them and arouse a passion for books," said Eray Yilmaz, one of the bookkeepers of the "factory library."
