Written by Kuheli Sarkar, LEC 2020
Imagine you are planning a road trip, you have heard from people who have taken the trip earlier how exciting it is, and now you are looking forward to experiencing it. Suddenly something awful unfolds and you are no longer sure whether you’ll be able to make it. How do you feel? Well Library Educator Course (LEC) 2020 participants were experiencing something very similar in April 2020. We were all set to begin our LEC journey which the pandemic held us back from embarking on. But the Bookworm team crafted a new beginning – the Virtual LEC 2020. I have been part of a blended model course before so I was familiar with virtual engagements, but the journey always began with the human touch of contact periods. I must admit news of complete virtual transition made me hold my breath. But as the journey began I was astounded by team Bookworm’s approach which integrated intense human touch into the virtual sessions transporting us to a realm where we coalesced as a learning community. My faith in learning over virtual platforms was never very strong, but virtual LEC has allayed my reservations and because of it today with an open mind I can consider it as a possible learning space.
Along with the apprehension came in surprises which made me giddy with joy! The magic wand of LEC cast a spell in my mailbox, and there was a virtual library. Without wasting any time I dived into the picture books and soaked in the stories to shake off the lockdown blues. This was the first perk of virtual LEC. I felt a bitter pang when my LEC mates shared the joy as they received their magic couriers with LEC goodies, whereas my courier showed no sign of arrival. Like a child waiting for a gift to arrive, I tracked the courier every day, enquired during introductory meetings about what the package contained, and then as the courier finally reached I felt satiated. When did I last feel such excitement around something coming my way? The excitement generated by LEC amidst the lockdown was immensely refreshing.
It was not the only occasion that I felt that I was reliving my childhood. We were invited to relook at our childhood experiences and unpack how we became the readers that we today are. Would I have ever walked back searching in my memories for experiences that shaped the reader in me if not in LEC? Perhaps not. And what did I discover? I traced the journey of me, the reader and it has undoubtedly deepened my understanding of how a reader is born. As Library Educators it is our responsibility to assist the birth and growth of readers and LEC has seamlessly taken us a step further in enabling us to do so. And what better than to learn from our very own experiences.
I started LEC as a voracious reader but as I try to assess myself as a reader today, I realize that I am a different reader, an evolved reader and that is all because of LEC. As a reader I have long instinctively responded to text, analyzed them, and referred to the context of the text for meaning making but never before did I realize its importance. And now I have a better understanding of – what to read, why to read and how to read – shall we call it the praxis of reading? The unraveling of the process of meaning making, significance of critical literacy for readers has armed me with deep sensitivity which I am to carry as a reader and hope to usher my future associate children readers into.
Along with my identity of a reader, I entered LEC with another identity, that of a practitioner of visual art. I was mesmerized by the illustration of the story books. I read them but as LEC progressed I was rewarded with new sight, to make meaning of the images not alone but together with the community of readers. LEC has inducted me into another kind of visual literacy which will surely reflect in my future practice of visual art.
I started my LEC reading journey with ‘What’s in a Name’; an answer to why the name of a library educator. The LEC journey in itself embodies the practice a library educator is to undertake. The designing of the learning experience based on the needs of the learners (the LEC participants), the location of every learner informing the content, and each learner being guided to make their own unique journey in LEC based on their vision – LEC has mirrored why we should do what we do and how we should do it as Library Educators. Each and every session of LEC is a blueprint which inspires the educators to observe, reflect and act in our respective areas of practice. Today as I immerse myself in the field project, from planning to implementation of the project sessions, every bit of it embodies my reflections arising out of close observation of the LEC sessions.
LEC 2020 so far has been an experience so unique that it has reaffirmed my faith that the library is a place where learning happens and it happens in alternative ways. Here learning is a process of intake, assimilation and practice which is not only facilitated by the faculties and mentors, but every learner is a peer educator. I have learnt to listen patiently, nestle in ideas, churn my thoughts and articulate effectively along the journey.
But before I end, I wonder what have been the add-ons of virtual LEC which were missing in previous LEC’s? And what are the aspects of previous LEC’s which we the very first virtual LEC participants are not part of? There must be something very special and unique in these two different approaches, and who knows if a third approach of LEC is on the way with the best of both the designs. We await for more wonders from team Bookworm who make LEC a special lived experience for each one of us.