Written by Lakshmi Karunakaran, LEC 2018
On the final day of our last contact a few weeks ago, teary eyed as I bid goodbye to friends and faculty in the serene campus at the St Joseph Vaz Spiritual Renewal Centre in Goa, I had a conversation with Jane Sahi, a senior faculty member at the course about treasures. I was talking to her about what the course had meant to me and how it had changed me in the last six months. ‘I carry back with me many treasures’, I told her. ‘My treasure trove is full’.
Now after I have gained some distance from being a part of the course I have been able to truly reflect on the various levels of engagement that the course created and how it has influenced me as an educator and as a person. I have had the time to open the treasure trove and examine its various ingredients more carefully. I am still soaking in what I see, and feel I will continue to do so for many years to come.
1) The Philosophy of Library Education: I am associated with an NGO that works with some of the most marginalized people in urban spaces. I stumbled my way into the field of education and working with children dedicating the last few years largely from learning from the ground. I chose not to hastily pick up an academic degree in the field and work in the grassroots as long as I could. So there was some amount of apprehension when I walked into the first contact program in Goa. But I was pleasantly surprised. The detailed approach to the philosophy of library education, library as a space, and it’s potential that the course explored truly validated many own choices in life, learnings from the ground and certain decisions that I had taken at my workspace. It showed me the potential of the work that I do, and why it is so critical to the society that we live in.
2) Contact Programs: The contact programs and how it was organized and conducted were one of the most important elements of the course. Of course, they were jam packed, intense. It pushed us to engage, think, participate, articulate and challenge our notions. Though it tired the best of us, all of us felt the adrenalin rush. I remember not being able to sleep well during my first contact, my mind buzzing with thoughts, questions and ideas. The sessions themselves were structured in a way that there was never a dull moment. Each topic was carefully chosen and artfully facilitated.
3) Compendium, compendium, compendium: The comprehensive compendiums that we received at each contact formed the backbone of the program. The articles and papers in the compendium were handpicked carefully to trigger conversations, discussions and sessions. I find each of these articles valuable and something that I will go back to from time to time, for clarification and courage.
4) Children’s Literature: One of the greatest gifts of the course was how it introduced us to good quality children’s literature. I have read some of the best children’s picture books during the course and engaged with them deeply.
5) Assignments and Field Projects: Assignments allowed us to further our understanding of children’s books and develop a keen eye for curation of books. The field project allowed us to integrate understandings and learnings from the course to our work on the ground. I had a great time working on my field project that was about exploring emotional literacy through children’s books.
6) Faculty and Mentorship: Some of the best leanings came from not only being a part of the sessions by the faculty, but by just observing them. They brought certain richness to the course that would have been impossible if this had remained a distance learning course. We were held together to the program during the distance period through the mentorship program. I built a unique bond with my mentor, who helped me not only with the course assignments and project field work, but also was there when I felt stuck with a challenge during my day to day work at the library.
7) Community: When I started off as a library educator about two years ago, I felt alone. My role in the organization was unique and there was no one else who really understood my challenges and difficulties. The Library educator’s course has changed that. The course brought me in touch with so many passionate co participants from India and beyond doing such incredible work in some of the most challenging landscapes in the country. This was deeply motivating. It was like finding a family.
Early in February this year, I had almost decided not to take up the course, owing to the fact that my organization had a funding challenge. Thanks to a reassuring call from Sujata Noronha, who offered me more time to ponder, for the generosity of Parag and Bookworm Trust, who offered me a scholarship that covered a part of the course expense, to the Goobe Book Trust from Bangalore who pitched in liberally to help, and to the organization that I work with Hasiru Dala, who have always encouraged me at every step, I was able to be a part of the course. Today I realise that joining the course was definitely one of the best decisions that I have made in the recent past.
Yes, my treasure trove is full.