In pics: World Book Day: One-day tour to world libraries

Photo taken on April 16, 2022 shows the Wormhole Library in the Haikou Bay in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- April 23 marks World Book and Copyright Day. It is an annual celebration initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to promote reading, publishing, and copyright.

Books have long embodied the human capacity to conjure up worlds, both real and imagined. They help us share ideas, obtain information, and inspire interests and curiosity for different cultures, enabling dialogues between people across space and time.

On this day, especially in uncertain times when the pandemic is still raging across the world, let's immerse ourselves in libraries around the world and pick a book, finding comfort and stimulation through these powerful tools.

A man reads a book at a street library in Jerusalem ahead of the World Book Day, on April 22, 2022. April 23 marks the World Book Day. (Xinhua/Wang Zhuolun)

Photo taken on April 21, 2022 shows a view of Duke Humfrey's Library of the Bodleian Libraries in the University of Oxford, Britain. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Photo taken on April 20, 2022 shows the interior view of the Tianjin Binhai Library in Tianjin, north China. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

Photo taken on April 20, 2022 shows the Vancouver Public Library in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

Photo taken on April 20, 2022 shows an internal view of the Bibliotheque Mazarine, or Mazarine Library, in Paris, France. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

Photo shows a view of the exterior of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt on April 18, 2022. (Photo by Ahmed Draz/Xinhua)

Afghan children read books beside a mobile library bus in Kunduz city, northern Afghanistan, on March 7, 2022. (Photo by Khaibar Momand/Xinhua)

People visit the Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Tiancong)

People visit the City Library of Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany, on April 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Lu Yang)

People read books in a park of the Suginami City Central Library in Tokyo, Japan, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

Photo taken on April 18, 2022 shows a grey whale skeleton installed in the Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City, Mexico. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)

Photo taken on April 13, 2022 shows a view of the library of Admont Abbey in Admont, Austria. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)