The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Ghana Library Authority, Hayford Siaw, has stated that currently, there are 118 libraries running in Ghana.
Before the NPP-government assumed office, only 383,430 persons visited public libraries to read books in a year.
However, he said due to certain programmes and interventions put in place, as at 2022, there were 1,422,910 library visits in a year.
Before the measures and or programmes were put in place, the Ghana Library Authority CEO said they found out people were not visiting the libraries because there were no books.
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Speaking on Atinka FM’s morning show, AM Drive with Kaakyire Ofori Ayim, He recalled that in 1981, there were 1,049,000 books in the 36 libraries the country had.
Fast forward, Hayford Siaw noted that in 2017, there were 61 libraries with only 349,941 books.
The above, he said, meant that although there were more libraries, there were no books, questioning why people would patronise the libraries without the books.
However, he said within a short time, under the Leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, as at the end of 2022, there were 1,280,844 books on the shelves of public libraries.
Meanwhile, he said under his tenure, 57 more libraries have been created, moving the number of libraries in Ghana from 61 to 118.
Hayford Siaw said at a conference for African Libraries, he observed that no African Government has been able to increase their number of libraries by 57 or from 61 to 118.
The Library CEO said the feat was achieved through partnerships, development authorities that the government has established, working with the Municipal Authorities, corporate partners and even some Members of parliament.
He also said advocacies have also helped to get some individuals to build the libraries.
Aside from building new ones, he said they have done renovations, maintenance and restocking of books, saying that he has renovated 49 out of the 61 libraries he inherited.
He also called on all to support the building and or renovation of more libraries in the country.
Hayford Siaw also mentioned the creation of the digital library by the Ghana Library Authority, urging all to download Ghana Library Application and follow the prompt to also have access to the numerous books on the App.
“We have some of the text books, not all and that is where we are pleading with the Ministry of Education to support us to get those books so that we can put them on our website and App so that every child will have access to it,” he appealed.
Hayford Siaw made it known that due to the achievements of the Ghana Library Authority, in 2021, the London Internal Book fair Excellence Awards recognised the Ghana Library Authority as the Library of the year in the whole world.
He noted that Ghana, Kenya and Croatia went for the finals and Ghana was awarded the best, saying it is a very remarkable feat for Ghana.
He said previously on many occasions, Ghana went into a bid to host the World Book Capital in Accra but it never had the opportunity to.
However, due to measures and investments put in place under this Government, and the Achievements chalked, the United Nations declared Accra as the World Book Capital.
This was after the United Nations observed that the Ghanaian Government has an interest in books and reading.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
 for Ghana Library Authority, Hayford Siaw, has made it known that currently, there are 118 libraries running in Ghana.){kind=link}