By Tyrone Jay V. Samson

Making sure that DMC College Foundation is one with publishers, booksellers, educators, librarians and readers all over the country in celebrating reading and literacy, DMC College of Computer Studies dean, Dr. Gerald Concha recently attended the 30^th Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) held at the Exhibit Halls of the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, in Pasay City.

Dr. Gerald T. Concha with DMC's liaison officer Miss Emma Pandaan.

The MIBF, with the theme “Opening Doors and Pages: A Legacy of Books’’ was held last September 16 to 20.

“Here in DMC, we always make sure to have a representative in the said yearly book fair for us to be updated with the latest publications here and abroad. We always see to it that our library is always up to date when it comes to books. As a matter of fact, we just recently purchased about half a million pesos worth of books for the next school year,” Dr. Concha said.

The book fair’s main thrust is to promote books and reading by giving the bookselling and publishing industry a venue to promote new titles and authors, dialogue with readers, and discuss ways to improve the quality of books.

The five-day fair, considered as the longest running book fair in Asia, featured storytelling sessions like reading and interpretative performances for the participants, book and product launchings, live musical performances, cooking demonstrations, and various other competitions.

The MIBF is joint collaboration of various entities like Primetrade Asia, Inc.; Asian Catholic Communicators, Inc.; the Book Development Association of the Philippines; the Philippine Booksellers Association, Inc.; and the Publishers’ Representatives Organization of the Philippines.