Floating bookshop moved to new berthing place

Notices are being displayed on board the Doulos asking the public to give a donation to the value of books taken from the fair onboard.

The Doulos was originally offering the Maltese public Lm5 worth of books as a gift, against a donation if they so wished.

However, readers of The Times called to say that even before the signs were put up, they were being asked to make a donation to the value of the books selected rather than being left to decide how much to donate.

One of the readers said she approached a member of the crew and asked what would be the case if she chose books to the value of Lm10 but only had Lm7 available, for example. She said the crew member told her she would be able to keep the books and "God bless you".

The woman, who was accompanied by her husband, went on to select a number of books for her kids - Lm16 worth of books in all.

She told the person at the till she could only donate Lm10 and when the bill ran up to Lm11.20, she was told she could only take that amount in books.

Asked about the situation, a staff member of the Doulos said staff always told the public what the books were worth to encourage them to give a donation to that value. However, it was finally up to the public as to how much they donated if they exceeded the Lm5 allocation of free books being allowed for each member of the public.

The government yesterday confirmed it would not be giving the Doulos a trading licence to operate a commercial fair.

Government sources insisted the licence could not be issued because legislation had changed since the visit two years ago of a sister ship of the Doulos.

However, in the official statement, the government said the sister ship which visited two years ago, had sold books amounting to eight per cent of all the books sold in Malta that year.

"Such high sales in a few days would negatively affect sales of books on the local market," it said. The retailers' association, the GRTU, has said such high sales distort the market.

Most bookshops which were contacted last week found no objection to the ship selling books.

The mv Doulos was yesterday moved to Laboratory Wharf, in Corradino and will be there until further notice, not far from the Hibs football ground sports complex. It was moved to make way for container ships.

Staff on the Doulos staff said the ship's new location had not affected public attendance.

The Doulos will continue to be open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays from 2 to 10 p.m.