In case you missed it, the capital city, Gaborone, now has a pop-out public library located in the east square of the main mall dubbed the Diamond Square.
The diamond Square which is right in front of the National Development Bank has been slowly developing into a Pop-Up model environment with a group of young creative entrepreneurs including a street coffee barista, visual artists, photographers and lately a public library operating from the space.
The brains behind the public library – Heaven Motswiri explains that the concept came after he discovered that there is a culture of reluctance when it comes to reading especially amongst the youth.
“I decided to begin sharing my books with the public. I found it fit to construct a library within a central location in Gaborone where the public can easily access reading material,” says Motswiri.
He explains that he too is not a stranger to ‘shunning books. At some point in his life, Motswiri worked for a local book store – Exclusive Books, a life stage which completely changed his view on books and reading.
“Fast forward to 2014 when I began working for Exclusive Books. Because of the type of work reading was compulsory. To know the books, I was selling I had to read them and that is what I did. I started with the light subjects and soon enough matriculated to more sophisticated content and reading material. At some point I was given the responsibility to read and review new books in the shop for the staff. That changed my entire landscape of reading as I had to pay more attention to detailing and so forth and it was during this period that reading became a part of me”.
Motswiri says with the steady response he believes the reading culture in the city will take form. His pop-out library also offers book summary and review services to local authors.
“These services help them position their products better for a better clientele outreach. I also provide the venue for their launches, signings, shelf space and relevant book marketing content,” says Motswiri.
Email: [email protected]
Contact: +267 75 462 990/72 296 205
Facebook: Heaven Motswiri
Library Page: Books and Coffee
