Written by Nivedita V. Bedadur, LEC 2020
I was waiting to sign up for LEC, Bookworm, Goa for almost more than a decade. I had heard about it when a Hindi version opened up. I remember friends telling me about it. I remember me wanting to be there because in my imagination it was all about books … a sort of paradise, I thought; so wholesome to be, eat, drink, speak, books and books for some months. My heart yearned…
It was only in 2020 that I managed to enroll in the course. And then COVID struck, and LEC went digital. My experience of digital courses was dampening, but LEC had to be different, I hoped… And from day one it proved to be.
No online course I knew of, had a walk-through of the mode of engagement and an elaborate ‘meet, greet, get to know’ of facilitators and batch members. I loved it. Then came another surprise, the discussions around books and diversity, inclusion and equality. The exploration of literary elements. This was something I hoped was there and then I looked forward to each session. Each session brought fresh perspectives, and some of them were solid 3 hours of engagement. We were reading and discussing books, but more than that we were engaging with each other. I have begun to shed my biases, have grown in admiration for younger and less experienced course mates who in their thoughts, opinions and skill of quick response raise all of us up in the many challenging activities.
Connecting the Dots
The range, breadth and depth of activities we were doing, to open up different areas of theory taught me that vision did not appear in some ivory tower as a shining beacon, it had to become a guiding light to ships stranded at sea. I learnt how to direct that light.
The LEC is a perfect example of how one can translate theories about the vision, elements of libraries, the ideals of diversity and inclusion, the theories of reading development in children, into practice. Bookworm has been drawing these invisible lines from a vision of a children’s library to its actual working in every aspect of library experience – the vision, the values, the space, the collection, the engagement, the community where reading and writing is a socially situated practice. The LEC experience guides you to draw your own vision to a map for actual practice, supporting and challenging you in equal measure.
My AHA moments at LEC
On 17th of October, I experienced an AHA moment ! On the day we were taken through a library experience : Book talk, games, a discussion of literary elements, book display, role play and book selection. The experience was woven around the theme of letter writing. While experiencing the session, I constantly felt that it was a way to engage us in a wonderful reading experience: An experience that I had begun to design for children I am working with in the digital mode. I failed to see that it was a digital library experience for children. Precisely, something which I was striving to design. And then when someone took me to that place during the session, I saw what I was missing, and the light seemed to shine through it all. This is exactly what I wanted to do! Rarely in a course of study, and especially in a digital one, is the personal direction and design for practice revealed in such a crystal clear manner! I understood how, in these times of uncertainty, where the library is considered non-essential, here is something worthwhile to engage children – a digital library experience!
The second time I felt really close to my roots at LEC was when we were discussing M.Vinodini’s The Parable of the Lost Daughter, I felt that the layers of meaning that one story could offer are so sensitive and so real. For someone like me, who has lost her connection to her roots in literature, understanding intersectionality and its effects in life made the possibilities of critical discussion with children come alive in a tangible manner. It also gave me an understanding of situating myself as a woman, at a certain age, from a certain class and caste, struggling against established hegemonies and stereotypes. LEC does that to you. It helps you understand yourself better and develop a sensitivity to the world around you.
Engagements of LEC are very carefully planned to be participant led, seventy percent of the time. This is possible face to face, but to plan it in digital mode is amazing! Let me describe the poetry session which has freshly impacted me. We selected the poems for this session, posted them on Moodle, we read the poems during the session and shared how they affected us. Gently, Jane led us through a deeper understanding of the how and why of poetry as library experience. There was such a deep connect, that there were some very emotional moments in the reading, as most of the poems selected touched a personal chord with the selector and the listener.
Revelation, Reflection and Praxis
Library Educators live in a world of change more than any other profession, our work is constantly challenged and this means that we need to constantly realign our vision. Is this possible? One may ask, cynically? But at LEC we witnessed the meaning of praxis in action through the churning that happens in the sessions, our field work discussions, through the volunteer reading circle, through the live discussions on and off moodle. For each one of us our field project is going to be a testing ground for our values and beliefs, how will we be able to put the vision that we have begun to form, into practice? Why are we choosing to design online versus face to face spaces? What are the different strategies of engagements, the different kinds of collections we will be using? Why did we select a particular community for the field project engagement? These decisions keep pulling us back to our vision and values. We are constantly reflecting – ‘why not’? There is a constant churning inside us. Like Sujata said, I may decide to keep a copy of Cinderella in my collection so as not to lose a reader, but I will do so with reflective praxis. This may result in her finding the fractured version of Cinderella, and an opportunity for me to engage the child to sample that too.
Reading this outpouring of mine, you may feel that the facilitators at LEC are super beings, living on some Utopia. Let me tell you, yes! In some ways they are, yet they are very practically rooted in the here and now. They are empathetic, sensitive and yet disciplined in thought and deed. Diverse opinions are welcome at LEC and due to this sometimes discussions may just go haywire and are gently steered back through reflection. At LEC discipline is the key, but with sensitivity and empathy. That is why, at LEC, unheard voices are heard, and respected in true spirit.
You may think that this is a perfect course for you to join, let me warn you… There is lots of support but lots of work. You will have exciting assignments but they will make you bite your nails and wear your fingers out. You will have a great team but each individual will have to apply one’s mind. If you have it in you, to be part of this exciting team, be ready… LEC 2021 is coming soon.