KAAPL has already established a book corner at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, which drew the attention of a large number of passengers. “We have introduced this project in order to encourage the public to read useful books,” he said.

“As the project has now completed one year we are happy to say that it was a big success as a large number of intellectuals, academics and book lovers used the facility at the Riyadh airport,” Al-Zaid said. “This good response has encouraged us to open such book corners at other airports in the country,” he added.

KAAPL also intends to establish such reading facilities at other public facilities such as railway stations, seaports and bus stations. “Our main objective by implementing this project is to keep the public in touch with books in order to enhance their knowledge,” he said.

“We have also conducted a study on prospects of establishing a number of mobile libraries in various parts of the country,” he said.

Al-Zaid said the airport book corner system was instrumental in creating a good picture about Saudi Arabia in the minds of expatriates and foreign visitors, especially with regard to its efforts to promote culture and knowledge.

These book corners will also help introduce the intellectual products of Saudi writers to a large number of foreigners, Al-Zaid said. KAAPL will display various books in different languages at the airports to meet the requirements of readers. “We will also take care of the interest of women and children among the passengers,” he pointed out.

Ismail Maritheri, assistant professor of English language at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, commended KAAPL’s move to make books available at airports and other public facilities for people to read and enhance their knowledge and make use of their free time.

“This is really a praiseworthy project. It comes at a time when serious reading is fading away, especially as the youth spend their free time on text messages and BlackBerry messages. Academic reading is getting confined to guides and students are not very fond of deep reading,” he said.

Maritheri said such book corners would also help foreign workers and readers learn more about Saudi culture and traditions. “These book corners should display a number of English books on Islam being the fastest spreading religion in the world. Many people wanted to know the real teachings of Islam, especially because of the smear campaign against the religion,” he added.