wfn.org | Library run by church welcomes teens cramming for exams to study, chill out

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3045 Edition

>July 5~July 11, 2010

Library run by church welcomes teens cramming for exams to study,  chill out

>Reported by Sam Lee

>Written by Lydia Ma

As exam season nears, many students in Kaohsiung are choosing C.Y.  Peng 
Memorial

Library as a place to study. It’s increasingly common for  Taiwanese students

frequenting libraries nowadays to rarely read or borrow books.  Instead, they 
visit

libraries in search of a quiet, air-conditioned place to cram for  exams.

C.Y. Peng Memorial Library was founded in 1984 by Hsin-Hsing  Presbyterian 
Church in

memory of this PCT church elder whose spirit of service and  learning left a 
lasting

legacy. In the past 20 years or so, this library has gone through  many changes 
in

readership pattern, as evidenced by book loan records.

According to the library’s manager, Wang Wen-li, most of the  books that have 
been

loaned out in recent years are picture books for children. Teens  and adults 
seldom

borrow books – a trend she attributes to the spread and  convenience of 
internet, which

has greatly diminished people’s desire to borrow and read  books.

To help students, C.Y. Peng Memorial Library has extended its  operating hours 
in July,

opening its doors from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The library has 92  seats, which 
fill up fairly

>quickly in the morning.

Teens entering the library can be seen carrying heavy books,  practice exams, 
lecture

notes, etc. To help with the rising demand for a quiet place to  study, the 
library has set

up additional tables and chairs in its lobby. But even these  places fill up in 
the blink of

>an eye.

The library hopes that when these students are tired and need to  take a break 
from their

studies, they will find good-quality magazines or novels to read.  It also 
offers an array of

Christian books and periodicals for Christians to peruse.

Wang noted that very few students enquire her about applying for a  library card

because they’re at the library just to study. She knows that  parents usually 
discourage

their children from reading extracurricular books for fear that  such books 
will distract

them from their studies and affect their scores on tests.

Wang laments that Taiwanese society is breeding a generation of  “purposeful” 
readers

– people who only read or learn new skills for the purpose of  passing a test 
or getting a

job, rather than for personal growth or pleasure.

The library is currently in its peak season as students need a  place to 
prepare for

exams. But once exam season ends, the number of people frequenting  the library 
will dwindle.

Nevertheless, the library has become a great place to share the  gospel with 
people this

month because most students who study there aren’t  Christians. To facilitate 
this

exchange, the library has made a point to include an extensive  array of works 
by

Christian authors among its collection of 15,000 or so books.

On June 20, 2010, students and young adults from Hsin-Hsing Church  sang and 
prayed

for youth studying in the library that day. The church’s  pastor then spoke 
about her

experiences as a student preparing for exams and prayed for every  teen 
studying there.

In the end, more than 20 students filled out prayer request forms.

For more information on C.Y. Peng, refer to  
http://thetaiwanese.blogspot.com/2006/01/dr-c-y-peng.html

>********************

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