$20m allocated for publishing paper: Culture minister
Iran has allocated $20 million to buy paper for its publishing industry, the culture minister said on Sunday, as annual book purchases fell and publishers faced financial and wartime pressures.
Abbas Salehi said part of the funds had been released and some paper shipments had arrived, with more on the way.
“The government was supporting publishers despite tight financial resources,” he said.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of Iran’s 34th Book Week in Tehran, Salehi cited an annual survey showing that printed books remained the most popular format.
Some 57.8% of respondents read print books, compared with 12.7% who used electronic books and 15.2% who listened to audiobooks. Another 14.2% used all three formats, he added.
The average annual book purchases fell to 8.6 volumes this year from 11 last year and only 12.2% of people who read books were library members, the survey found.
“Paper remained essential to the country’s publishing sector and called for stronger public library collections to help address declining household spending on books,” Salehi added.
He said 65 libraries had opened over the past two years, while 300 library projects remained unfinished nationwide. Completing them would add 300,000 square meters of library space.
The ceremony also marked the launch of 34 mobile libraries at Mashq Square in central Tehran.
The vehicles will serve 24 provinces. Six provinces, Bushehr, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Qom, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Golestan and Lorestan, received mobile libraries for the first time.