NGUYEN DINH CHIEU BLIC LIBRARY HAS BEEN THRIVING SINCETHE CELEBRITY ROOM OPERATED

One of the highlights of the latest cultural address in Ben Tre and the Mekong Delta region of recent years is the Celebrity Room, which is the model that Library Director of Nguyen Dinh Chieu Public Library, Mr. DUONG Tan Phat cherished and patiently campaigning for drastic implementation from the beginning of 2018 to the present. The Celebrity Room used to be working room in the library campus, it was renovated and upgraded, repaired the walls and ceilings, equipped with curtains, famous person posters, and decorated the exhibition area for books and documents about famous person of Ben Tre such as Truong Vinh Ky, Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Phan Van Tri, Vo Truong Toan, Phan Thanh Gian, Suong Nguyet Anh … Celebrity Room is newly invested with 8 bookshelves, 8 sets of tables and chairs, 6 round tables, sofas  with power system, internet and lighting designed suitable to read and work.

The Celebrity Room in Nguyen Dinh Chieu Public Library is sponsored by Yeah1 Group Joint Stock Company and officially handed over and put into operation on December 19, 2018 with the witness of Deputy Secretary of Ben Provincial Party Committee Mr. Tran Ngoc Tam and Deputy Director of Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ms. Tran Thi Kieu Ton. Since then, Ben Tre has added a new cultural address not only in appearance but also in the approach of a new model on the journey of knowledge dissemination such as the enthusiasm of the Chairman of the Yeah1 Group, the Director of Yeah1 Mr. Nguyen Anh Nhuan. Tong confided when handing over the project imbued with gratitude and humanity worth 450 million VND “… I have an affinity with Ben Tre – a land of study, this is the second work after the library of Luong The Vinh school, Thanh Phu affirmed the enthusiasm of the Group always wanting to spread knowledge, bringing “books – a big friend”, becoming a teacher to every Ben Tre people … “worthy of cultural land, learning land”

According Mr. Pham Van Luan, a graduate student in Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts, “… The Ben Tre Celebrity Room is the first model among the Mekong Delta provinces, with a rich humanistic cultural resource especially is a wide source of Ben Tre celebrity culture, imbued with Southern culture, liberal and open to the world … The Celebrity room will make an important contribution to creat a breakthrough in the collection, preservation and universalization. turning and exploiting famous cultural documents of Ben Tre by approaching the effects of the 4.0 industry in the field of culture, building up the “soft power of Ben Tre culture” to serve the construction. building and developing the province in the context of integration and globalization”.

Since the reception of the Celebrity Room nt, Nguyen Dinh Chieu Public Library has introduced valuable documents about Truong Vinh Ky, a scientist in Ben Tre those are presented by his descendants, Xua va Nay Magazine donated by Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Ho Chi Minh City … This is the result of a launching campaign to collect documents about famous person of Ben Tre launched by Nguyen Dinh Chieu Public Library in June 2018. At the end of January 2019, Nguyen Dinh Chieu Public Library received valuable documents about Truong Vinh Ky from his descendants who visited the Celebrity Room. After more than 1 year of operation, the Celebrity Room has welcomed more than 500 readers to study, research and share materials, including 2 delegations from the Fulbright University, 2 delegations from the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture, co-organized the Conference Truong Vinh Ky – transmitters of national language with the participation of more than 200 teachers, students and readers …

The good news at the beginning of the year of the Rat – 2020, on February 1, the Library of Nguyen Dinh Chieu has received a new document about Truong Vinh Ky the scientist from his descendants. Up to now, although there are many difficulties: lacking of technical and human resources, t with the spirit of volunteerism and sharing of Library staff and researchers, readers of the Celebrities Room have digitized 10 books with more than 5000 pages (please see the link: http://115.79.201.206:81/handle/11744.3/1461), so far this place has the most valuable and latest source of information about Truong Vinh Ky the scientist  in Vietnam. Currently, Nguyen Dinh Chieu Public Library is still campaigning and making efforts to collect documents about Ben Tre celebrity from scientists, experts and those who are interested in studying the celebrity and culture of a special land – Ben Tre.

(Author: Lam Truc – 2019 _ Translator: Dong Phu)