Publishing, Printing and Book Distribution Industry Develops Steadily in the New Era

(Baonghean) - Overcoming difficulties and challenges, over the past 65 years, the Vietnamese Publishing, Printing and Book Distribution industry (October 10, 1952 - 2017) has achieved many achievements, making positive contributions in the fields of ideology, propaganda and spreading socio-economic development movements. During that journey, generations of cadres and workers in the Publishing, Printing and Book Distribution industry in Nghe An province have always followed and strived to fulfill their mission.

Leaders of the Department of Information and Communications inspected the activities of units on Vietnam Book Day.

History of traditional day

The first milestone of the revolutionary publishing industry was the compilation, printing and distribution of the book "The Revolutionary Path" by comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc in 1927, along with the birth of revolutionary works such as: The issue of the peasants by Qua Ninh and Van Dinh in 1938 (Truong Chinh and Vo Nguyen Giap), Outline of Vietnamese culture in 1943 (Truong Chinh)... After the August Revolution in 1945, the publishing houses: Truth, Labor, National Defense were established; the printing establishments: Vietnam National Printing and Publishing House, Progress, Tran Phu, National Salvation, National Salvation were established one after another. The publishing work was initially separate and later concentrated into the General Publishing House of National Salvation Books and Newspapers.

In 1952, the resistance war against French colonialism entered a new phase, the demand for books and newspapers increased in both quantity and quality. In that context, there was a need for a unified agency to manage all three stages of publishing, printing and distribution to meet the requirements of the new task.

At the request of the Department of Propaganda and Literature, on October 10, 1952, President Ho Chi Minh signed Decree 122/SL to establish the National Printing House. The goal was to promptly resolve the printing and publishing of books and newspapers, to concentrate all resources and capabilities, to serve the propaganda and education work, and to open a new period of development for the publishing industry in our country.

The number of books increased rapidly, the content of the books faithfully and vividly reflected the life of fighting and building the country of our army and people. The scope of publication expanded to the inter-zones, to the fronts, the plains as well as the mountains, contributing to the victory of the nation's long resistance wars. Since then, October 10 has become the traditional day of the Publishing - Printing - Book Distribution industry of Vietnam.

Vinh City residents come to the Book Festival. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Steady step forward

In Nghe An province, there are currently 2 publishing houses: Nghe An Publishing House and Vinh University Publishing House. There are 444 printing establishments operating in the area, of which 19 establishments are licensed to operate printing, 1 unit is granted a certificate of registration to operate in the printing industry; the rest are inkjet printing, digital printing, and photocopying establishments. There are 155 distribution establishments in the area, of which the units with large influence are: Book and School Equipment Joint Stock Company with 3 business locations, Book Distribution Joint Stock Company with 10 business locations, Gia Lai CTC Nghe An Joint Stock Company with 3 business locations, Huy Hoang Culture Joint Stock Company with 2 business locations.

To strengthen management, the Department of Information and Communications of Nghe An advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Decision No. 2971/QD-UBND dated July 13, 2010 approving the Development Plan for the Publishing - Printing - Distribution Industry of Nghe An Province for the period 2010 - 2020, including a list of key projects and plans to turn the publishing, printing and distribution industry in general and the printing industry in particular into a development center of the North Central region, as a basis for further improving printing technology and techniques, further improving quality and output to bring long-term profits.

In recent times, the Department has had many activities to create a legal corridor, creating the best conditions for businesses in the publishing, printing and distribution industry to fully access new legal regulations... Organizing many training and guidance classes, further raising awareness of legal regulations for printing activities.

In particular, in training, the Department boldly proposed to the Ministry of Information and Communications to coordinate with the Institute of Chemical Engineering - Hanoi University of Science and Technology to open training classes for heads of printing establishments in the area to be granted certificates. This activity has received support and participation from a large number of printing establishments not only in the province but also with the participation of printing establishments in neighboring provinces such as Quang Ninh, Thai Binh, Kontum, Thanh Hoa... In 2015 and 2016, the Department of Information and Communications opened 2 classes with a total of 93 students receiving management certificates.

With the active participation of the management agency and the efforts of the units, the publishing, printing and distribution industry has achieved the main targets, continuing to affirm its important position in social life, gradually adapting to the market mechanism and making progress in technological innovation and improving the lives and income of workers. The content and form of publications have been improved, meeting the increasing needs of society.

The structure of the topics is reasonable, rich, and diverse in information. The range of scientific and technical books serving industrialization and modernization is increasingly improved in quality and quantity, such as: "Socio-economic development strategy of Nghe An province in the period 2015-2020 and vision to 2030", "Homeland in Uncle Ho's heart", "Red sunset of Hong Lam", "Five centuries of Nom literature of Nghe people", "Xuan Dieu - author and literary heritage", "Natural compounds", "Innovation in management of educational institutions in the current context"... The books have promptly served the political tasks of the province, contributing significantly to preserving the traditional cultural values ​​of the nation.

The industry has widely and strongly applied information technology in manuscript editing, investing in many new generation equipment. The quality, printing and publishing output are higher than the same period last year. The total output of the printing industry in the first 6 months of 2017 reached nearly 8 billion standard printed pages (13 x 19 size). Revenue of units has continuously increased, creating jobs and stable income for workers. The growth rate of the publishing industry has also increased significantly.

In addition, the units also fully implement policies for employees, actively participate in social work activities such as "gratitude", "hunger eradication and poverty reduction", "Agent Orange victims"... Typical is the Joint Stock Company of Books and School Equipment in the first 6 months of 2017 with a total number of books sold: 3,650,000 copies, cultural products with more than 1,000 products, total revenue reached 42 billion VND, contributing significantly to the socio-economic development of the province.

Donating books to students in mountainous schools in Con Cuong district.

Bringing knowledge to the village

With the joint efforts of publishing - printing - distribution units, the Department of Information and Communications has organized exciting, practical and deeply humane activities such as: Commemorative rallies and book exhibitions, donating books to schools, border posts and communal libraries in remote areas; particularly difficult areas and island border areas to encourage and develop the reading movement in the community, raise people's awareness, contribute to the development of thinking, education and training of human personality.

During the 3 years of organizing activities in response to Vietnam Book Day (April 21), the Department of Information and Communications has presented more than 11,000 books to school libraries, prison libraries, and border stations in remote areas; including: more than 1,600 books to Muong Long 1 Primary School; Muong Long Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, more than 300 books to Nam Can Border Station, more than 1,500 books to Nam Nhoong Primary and Secondary School... This is a very meaningful gift for schools in the poorest districts in the province. For the Border Station, the Department presented books on law, life, health, education, animal husbandry, literature... contributing to improving the spiritual life of soldiers working in the border area.

Promoting the achievements, in the coming time, the staff and workers of the publishing, printing and distribution industry will continue to firmly step on the path they have chosen, developing the industry's career in the period of innovation.

Nguyen Ba Hao - Deputy Director of Department of Information and Communications