Written by Jennifer Thomas, Educator.
Rolling my suitcase down the quiet corridors of the Spiritual Renewal Centre in Old Goa, the beautiful venue for the third contact of the Library Educators Course 2018, I felt a sense of trepidation. The only sound was the noise of my suitcase wheels. The stillness and calm of the place disquieted me. As I looked for the group, thoughts raced through my mind. This was the last contact session for a group that had stayed together for the last seven months and here I was, a complete stranger entering LEC on the fringes. In my own work as an educator, the library has so far been on the fringes of my practice and in the last six months I have been trying to shift this to some extent. As I reached the end of the corridor I heard a familiar laughter ringing through the walls. It was Sujata. I felt a pang of relief and reassurance as she enveloped me in a warm hug. Sujata had invited me to hold together with her a session on libraries and technology but I anticipated this was going to be more of a journey of discovery and learning for me. And I was not wrong.
How do I describe what the LEC experience is like? Should I start with the touch of exquisite creativity and imagination reflected in every aspect of the space, book displays and activities? Or should I talk about the human relationships the course and session design fosters among participants and course faculty? This year the LEC began with a theatrical text conceptualized and performed by the Bookworm team. It was a silent but thought provoking performance that reaffirmed the role of books in our lives. It also showed me how much Bookworm has come to own and use theatre and performance in their work with children. Deepali’s sharing about her work in the school for the hearing impaired in the session on inclusion showed how Bookworm is also reaching out to a very diverse learner group. Every time I go back to Bookworm I’m awed by how they keep deepening and diversifying their work. As someone who has followed Bookworm’s work from a distance, LEC showed in very real ways how a library can be a pivotal community space (Chancellor, 2017), and this is because of how deeply invested and rooted Bookworm is in its outreach work.
In a world of teaching tool kits and quick fixes, not surprisingly, LEC holds a special place for teaching and learning through reading. It is through immersive reading of critical texts that the course succeeds in reinstating the role not of the clerical ‘librarian’ but of the purposeful and mindful ‘library educator’. Leafing through the course compendium I was struck by how thoughtfully and painstakingly every section is designed. This compendium focused on four areas; i) Vision for a library ii) Becoming a reader iii)Engagement with Children’s Literature iv) Vibrant Library These readings situate library practice within a rich body of scholarship on libraries, literature and various socio-political issues which remind us that the library educator is a true professional.
While the readings are powerful, the act of reading these texts would not be as meaningful if one were left to read and mull over it alone. There is very thoughtful pedagogy that goes into unpacking ideas in the text. I realised every session is sensorial and based on principles of active learning and collaboration. Over the three days I witnessed rich book talks, debates, group discussions, book displays, role plays and even book auctions. All this was central to the kind of learning experiences the course encourages educators to build around their library work. I think immense discussion and deliberation goes into designing sessions which open up these readings for the participants. This perhaps is what keeps the sessions engaging and organic, always also including an element of surprise for learners.
It’s not always academic and intense at LEC. The activities of the day give way to reflection as everyone steals away for some quiet time in the evening. There’s also a lot of community, sharing and hilarity. The last day drew to a close with creative and fun performances groups did for everyone. The session ended with a lovely activity where each participant gifted a tiny package curated by Bookworm to someone whom they hadn’t interacted much with, saying something powerful and positive to the person. For me, this affirmed that relationships we share with people is what takes our work forward. And this perhaps is the bedrock of our work with readers and books as library educators.
I’m deeply grateful for this LEC experience.