The Brasil de Fato portal shows that industry experts predict the number could be even higher.
According to Sibele Arajo, Professor of Library Science Course at the School of Communication and Arts of the University of So Paulo (USP), the data reinforces the condemnation of contempt of culture and education by recent governments.
“Public libraries in many municipalities are a fundamental link in culture, for the formation of the individual, for the development of their citizenship,” he said.
These institutions often promote activities such as literary evenings, singing, music and plays.
“These places promote the safe disclosure of information, culture, educational training of people and the preservation of historical memory,” said journalist Ana Paula Medeiros, who interviewed Araujo.
He specified that each type of library (public, school or circulating) meets the specific informational and cultural needs of the society.
The site states that this sector’s commitment particularly affects the most vulnerable populations. This is because public computers guarantee easy access to books, which are often restricted by their price.
Araujo stressed that “public libraries are also important to the memory of Brazil as they store local literature, information and history through physical books and internal projects to tell and tell stories.”
Mayors, governors, councilors and deputy must have a defense agenda in front of them. He argued that investing in culture is not a cost, it is a net benefit to a more developed society.
In 2010, during the government of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Law 12,244 was approved, which provides that public schools must be equipped with libraries.
However, the digital page details, especially in the aftermath of the judicial parliamentary coup that ousted President Dilma Rousseff from power in 2016, “the road to achieving the goal has lengthened.”
Professor Valdir Heter Barzotto, Deputy Director of the USP’s Faculty of Education, reaffirmed the importance of public libraries to civic education.
He warned that “the less access to that memory in the knowledge accumulated by humanity, the less access young people have to libraries, the more isolated they are from the world in which they live.”
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