Written by Dwithiya Raghavan, LEC 2020
How do you move a course that has so far run in the wonderous haven for readers that is the Bookworm library in Goa into tiny Zoom windows without losing its soul? Ask the Bookworm team and they will tell you how! Thanks to the pandemic, they were pushed to move the Library Educators Certificate Course online and I am one of the lucky beneficiaries of this transition.
Since the very first introductory session, the team has done everything in their power to bring the warmth and camaraderie along with the riguor of an in-person training to the digital space. From the heartwarming virtual tour of their library, to the team dressing up as popular literary characters to introduce us to various corners of this glorious space, from the inimitable Nayan and her little activities to ensure we are always energized, to the incredible organizational skills of Anandita and Alexis, the thought and effort that goes into executing each session is apparent to me. What is most significant to me though is how passionate they are about books and the way in which the course and activities are structured to encourage us to read more, to acquaint ourselves with diverse books and engage in discussions around books. Book talks are the event I most look forward to in each session; participants or faculty choose a book they would like to share with the rest of the group and introduce it to us. They hold up the book (or screen share a digital version), talk about why they love it, show us the illustrations, give us a glimpse of the story, pique our excitement and leave us with an urge to devour the book as soon as we can. Book talks are such a heartwarming way to curating a must-read shelf of books, ones that are recommended by fellow book lovers who hold them close to their hearts. Then we get to ask the book-talker questions, about the book, about their relationship to the book and I especially like finding out what their favourite page in the book is and then revisiting the page on my own time to experience the magic that they felt as they read that page.
Let me not fool you into believing it is all fun and games though, it is a rigorous, carefully structured course, that requires us to engage with literature and policy on libraries, along with acquiring practical skills that we can use in our roles as future library educators. The faculty and the mentors patiently guide us through difficult texts, encourage us to question and examine critically what we read to deepen our understanding of the materials. I can’t decide what I enjoy more, Jane leading us gently into noticing the nuances of language and illustrations, Thejaswi pushing us to think critically about diversity and representation in children’s books, Sujata navigating us through the policy frameworks and structures within which libraries sit, or Nayan and Anandita devising interactive and fun ways of us engaging with creating vibrant libraries. As our cohort consists of people who engage in library work in various capacities, small group discussions that are facilitated by mentors result in a rich sharing of different perspectives where I have so often had my very privileged eyes opened. In addition to the discussions within our cohort, every so often the Bookworm team also bring to the sessions, past participants who are doing amazing work in the library space, artists, illustrators, authors, all of whom we can talk to, learn from and be inspired by.
I have always been a lover of books and reading came to me easy as a child. I have also had the good fortune of growing up in an environment that provided all the support and encouragement I needed to be able to do this. I realise that not everyone has such a harmonious relationship with books and how important it is for both kinds of people to find someone who will hold their hand and guide them. As I go through the Library Educators Certificate course, I very often think of my middle school librarian Ms Asha Godambe, who visually fit the most common bespectacled, stern version of a librarian one can imagine, but was the most wonderful guide into the world of books for me and so many of my school mates. I hope that this course will provide me the tools to be someone like her for children who are eager and even those who are reluctant to enter the magical world of books.