National Book Centre to serve as book watchdog

The National Book Centre (CNL), an institution proposed by the bill on the books submitted to People’s National Assembly for consideration, will serve as a watchdog in charge of studies and statistics on books and readership, said Sunday CNL’s director. Met on the sidelines of the 18th International Book Fair of Algiers, Hassen Bendif told APS that CNL will have "to set up a statistical system for monitoring the evolution of book market, in terms of circulation, reading and tendencies of readers to " identify the different strata of the Algerian readership. These studies will allow CNL to target the weakest links in the distribution and marketing chain of the book for an "effective implementation" of the support programme for authors, publishers and distributors included in the bill. CNL works to set up a "partnership platform" with similar organizations in other countries to benefit from their experiences. Present for the first time at 18th SILA , CNL hopes that "it will be made better known to the books’ professionals as the institution is now operational," said Bendif.