如果麥子不死

With the opening of Dandelion Family Library in Funan Village of Lingya District, in February 2009, a trend of children's reading has quietly started in the community.

The Library is located on the third floor of the Funan Village Activity Centre. The opening of this library space is the first step taken by the Dandelion Organization of Storytelling as Literacy Advocacy (DOSLA). DOSLA was established in August 2008 and opened a library within half a year's time due to its group of perseverant and devoted volunteers. They began from scratch by themselves from the location hunting to the setting up of the library to the DIY decoration of the space. Chairman Yi Feng Wang says that reading is a way of educating. The members of this organization share a dream: to allow children to form a habit of thinking through reading stories and to learn to be tolerant of others opinions through sharing and discussion after reading, in order to develop their quality of democracy. Wang says that this is also the belief of DOSLA.

DOSLA does not have extensive funding, but it has many passionate and talented members to support it. Wang says the process of location hunting was not an easy journey. The members did not find their ideal place, but found the Funan Village Activity Centre. At first, the head of Funan Village tried to dissuade the organization from stationing there. This is because Funan Village is kind of an old tribe, with the ratio of grand-families and foreign spouses so high that it might be difficult to promote reading habits in the community. However, the reason mentioned above has become the motivation and has strengthened the determination of DOSLA. They feel that the children of this area are in desperate need of a library and opportunities to read. Through a lengthy negotiation, the activity centre agreed to lend its unused snooker room on the third floor to DOSLA to set up a library. The opening day of the library attracted more than a hundred community members and the age range was from children of less than one year old to a grandma in her nineties.

The completion of the library has demonstrated the strong power of the private sector. Apart from the D.I.Y. handy work of its volunteers, all the equipment including furniture, book shelves, and electronic swipes for the books have been generously sponsored by local communities and enterprises.

Wang points out that because DOSLA does not pay the volunteers, the cost of the library only has to cover the utility costs, equipment maintenance, and book purchases. Therefore, it only takes a hundred members and a budget of NTD150,000 per year to run the library. However, DOSLA insists on not fundraising. They prefer the support comes from its members- there is a NTD300 joining fee and annual membership fee of NTD1200. The membership fee covers the whole family, who can use and borrow any books from the library. To encourage the reading habits of the villagers, as long as one's residence is registered in Funan Village, he/she can become a member free of charge if he/she attends one session of storytelling or discussion in the library.

The library currently has a collection of three thousand books. Many of them have been bought by members at their own cost. Apart from providing the lending service, the library holds free sessions of storytelling, reading of children's and young adult fictions from Monday to Saturday, with a monthly theme. The books in the library are not categorized in the same way as normal libraries. The books are categorized into sections that are easy for children to understand, such as baby and toddler books, picture books, children's literature, young adult literature, art collection, and others.

DOSLA plans to open 3 more libraries in Kaohsiung City in the future. The goal of DOSLA is to encourage the reading habits of citizens from all walks of life.

Dandelion Family Library:

3F, No.60, Lane 353, Fude 3rd Road, Lingya District, Kaohsiung City.
Tel.: 07-727-7558
Blog:http://doslalibraryfunan.blogspot.com/

2009年2月22日，蒲公英親子圖書館在苓雅區福南里正式開館，而一股兒童閱讀風氣，也悄悄的在鄰里間蔓延開來。

圖書館座落在福南里活動中心三樓，這座實體圖書館是蒲公英故事閱讀推廣協會的第一步，協會成立於2008年８月，短短半年的時間，實體圖書館便宣告開館，靠的就是一群不屈不撓的無給職志工，從尋找服務據點、開設圖書館到DIY簡單裝修，樣樣自己來。協會成員有個遠大的夢想，總幹事王怡鳳說，閱讀是教育的一種途徑，透過故事閱讀，讓孩子養成思考的習慣，經由閱讀後的分享及討論，讓孩子學習包容其他人的想法，提早養成民主素養。王怡鳳笑說，這個願景是協會堅信的理念。

協會並沒有太多的經費，但卻擁有非常多的熱情與專業，王怡鳳說尋找館址過程是一波三折，一直到找到福南里活動中心，協會成員才遇到理想的窩。當初找到這個地方時，里長曾勸說協會不要進駐此地，因為福南里算是舊部落，隔代教養與外籍配偶的比例相當高，擔心推廣閱讀不易，但這卻加深了協會進駐此地的決心，協會深覺這個地區的小朋友更需要有圖書館，更需那份閱讀的機會。歷經勸說後，活動中心將三樓閒置的撞球間撥讓給協會開設圖書館，開幕那一天，來了100多位社區居民，從90多歲的老阿嬤到不滿1歲的小小孩都有。

蒲公英圖書館的落成展現了強大的民間自發力量，包含內部志工的親力親為，甚至家具、書櫃、圖書電子條碼等，都來自於社會與企業的慷慨解囊。

王怡鳳表示，其實要維持這個圖書館的運作，只需要100位的會員，一年15 萬的經費，因為志工都是無給職，所需的花費多是水電、修繕、設備維護與購買圖書，但是他們堅持不募款，要支持蒲公英的方式，就是加入會員，繳交入會費300元及常年費1200元，一人辦證全家都能使用，借閱館內各式圖書。為了加深里民閱讀習慣，只要是設籍福南里，來館內聽一次故事或是座談，就能免費成為會員。

目前圖書館已經收集約三千冊的圖書，許多都是協會成員自掏腰包所購買，圖書館除了有借閱服務外，每週一到週六，天天都會有免費故事閱讀活動，朗讀兒童文學及少年小說的服務，每個月還會設定主題圖書。圖書館內的圖書分類分成幼兒書、圖話書、兒童文學、青少年文學、藝術美學等，不以常見的圖書館分類方式，而以小朋友容易理解的方式做方類。

未來蒲公英預計在高雄市開設三個圖書館，經由點、線、面，深化民間閱讀風氣。

蒲公英親子圖書館館址：

高雄市苓雅區福德三路353巷60號3樓
電話：07-7277558
部落格：http://doslalibraryfunan.blogspot.com/