Sonia Deshpande
Reading together as a group can help deepen children’s engagement with books and also bring them together as a reading community. It is also about the group finding value in thinking together and discovering different perspectives. A look at how literature circles enable better understanding of a book.
Category: Off the Library Shelves
Breathing life into a public library
Nayan Mehrotra
This article talks about the writer’s intervention in the public library space. She finds that there is no single factor that hampers the growth and popularity of the public library, rather it is more of a serious systemic issue.
“Opening” up a school library
Anuradha Pachanooru
Discover the excitement, enthusiasm and learnings that a library can pass on when used properly. This is the story of the transformation of a school library from a neglected storeroom to an active and vibrant learning space.
Bringing Non-Fiction into the light
Anandita Rao
The reading world is divided into those who love fiction and those who can’t see beyond non-fiction. And it is often difficult to persuade one to try the other. This librarian too was happy in her world of fiction until she was challenged to step into the other side. In her journey of exploring non-fiction she surprisingly realized that there is very little to differentiate fiction and non-fiction.
Exploring children’s agency in the library
JoAnne Saldanha
How can collaborations across the school community enhance a school’s library program? First, a school library must reflect the active presence of children. Second, the collection of books must be curated keeping the students interests, needs and requests. Sharing a non-judgmental environment also helps students take ownership for the library. Here are some more tips on how students themselves can team up and make the library a more cheerful space.
The Storymaker factor
Sowmya Ravindranath
All of us read and enjoy storybooks. But how many of us try and find out more about the authors of the books we read? A short library course on how knowing the author helps us understand their stories better opened this educator’s eyes to a whole new experience of reading books.
The school library: a place for everyone
Nirupama Kaushik
This article traces the journey of a school library. Though it was a place that had books and resources in abundance, it was sorely under-utilized with the odd teacher coming in to borrow a subject-related textbook, and perhaps attend staff meetings. With a lot of time, effort and constant review, the library has now transformed into a place that is buzzing with people – students, teachers and parents. Alluring displays and unorthodox collection of books has changed this into a joyful learning centre.
Libraries that live and breathe
Ria Banerjee
How can children be made to engage with books and reading? What kind of books do children like to read? Is there a process to the selection and collection of books? The author describes her journey of engagement with children and what she learnt.
Memories, books and libraries
Lohit T
Books behind closed shelves and cupboards, beyond the reach of those who need them, don’t make a library. A library must be inviting, accessible and open to the needs of its users and it is this desire that led the author to successfully experiment with classroom libraries.
Parents in the library
Sonam Gangsang
In our series of writings which share the work of library educators, the focus this time is on an educator’s journey in a small Tibetan school in Karnataka and how she managed to engage parents and the community to develop an interest in library practices and learning.