WHO would have thought that some old phone booths along Beach Street in George Town could be transformed into beautiful and colourful mini libraries?
Penggerak Komuniti Muda Pulau Pinang (Peka) executive director Joshua Woo Sze Zeng struck this idea in 2019 when he saw some of the abandoned old phone booths near the police station in Beach Street.
“The public phone booths were in dilapidated condition and unsightly in the heart of the George Town heritage core zone.
“At that time, I knew I had to do something to change this scenery.
“And after doing some thinking and reading, I decided to transform the old phone booths into mini libraries,” Woo told Buletin Mutiara during an interview.
He then initiated the project with the support of the state government to inculcate reading habits among the people, especially the younger generation, as its main objective.
In total, Peka has so far transformed five old public phone booths into mini libraries. Three of them are located at the north end of Beach Street, one on Gat Lebuh Gereja and another on Lebuh China.
“Through this initiative, the public can read, borrow, exchange or donate their books to be shared with the community.
“But, we don’t want to transform them into conventional mini libraries. Instead, we made them as creative and as attractive for the people.
“We painted all the five booths with a variety of attractive colours, such as Chromatella yellow, Fire Princess red, Frost Blue and Fascination pink to catch the public’s eyes,” he added.
Woo said he is also glad that Penang Island City Council (MBPP), which owns all the five old phone booths, is very supportive of the project.
“After getting the necessary approval from the MBPP, we started to decorate the phone booths.
“The project started in 2020 but got delayed for almost two years due to a series of lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 situation.
“Nevertheless, after the lockdown ended, we finally managed to complete the mini library at the end of last year.
“We are glad that MBPP loves our idea and is willing to help us as well to decorate the old phone booths, such as by providing USB ports and lights to allow people to visit them at night.
“The overall cost is around RM9,000. Basically, the design remains unchanged; we didn’t shift or change the structure of the booths.
“We just cleaned them, removed the protruding wires and unwanted parts, painted them, and installed racks with acrylic covers.
“And all the books put in here were donated by the public themselves,” he said.
He also advised the public to not vandalise the mini libraries.
“Previously, there were some vandalism activities at the mini libraries and this trouble us a lot because we need to repaint and repair any part that is damaged or missing.
“So, we urged the public to be more appreciative by using the mini libraries properly.
“There was a case of the books being stolen. But, if the books that were stolen could help inspire the thieves to pick up a reading habit, I personally think that is fine. Our objective, after all, is to inculcate reading habit among the people,” he said.
Woo said since the mini libraries project was completed, it has become a popular place for people taking pictures.
“This, at the same time, can also promote Penang’s tourism,” he said.
When asked about the future plans for the project, Woo said he would like to continue transforming even more old phone booths into mini libraries at other locations in the state.
“As of now, we have already identified four new locations where we are exploring the possibility.
“And one of the locations is in Bukit Mertajam on the mainland,” he added.
Story by Riadz Akmal
Pix by Alissala Thian