Artsakh libraries need modern world literature

The libraries in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic are in need of contemporary world literature today, says a library chief from capital Stepanakert.
Naira Khachatryan, the director of the city's Muratsan Library, told Tert.am on Sunday that they currently have 56,000 copies of books, most being old enough to address the present-day reader's demands.
"The people in Artsakh are great book-lovers. For instance, the residents of the capital city, Stepanakert, prefer new and contemporary writers. They are eager to read new things and be in touch with the modern pieces of world literature. But we do not have that opportunity; we are cut off from world," she said, noting that the books remain outdated, with the changing world continuing to progress.Khachatryan added that people often complain about the shortage of literature as the old books in libraries become worn out in the course of time, getting less and less in number.
"It would be good if the publishing houses in Armenia periodically sent us books, things that we do not have here in our libraries. Where and how can we get them otherwise? Naturally, nobody would give [us] a book for nothing nowadays. It is good, though, that a bookstore offering rather good literature has opened recently in Stepanakert, so that [readers] can purchase books from there. We are very happy from that point of view," she added. 
Asked whether they have asked publishing houses for books, she said: "We have only one in Artsakh; all others are in Yerevan, and they do not have that option."
Khachatryan noted at the end that updated literature in libraries would attract more readers, thus providing a solution to the pressing problem hanging in the air today.   Read more... (288 words)

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