Bookworm is a creative space to impart food for the heart and soul, widen horizons, and empower one with the need to comprehend the written word
Sujata Noronha founded Bookworm, a library based organisation, as a response in the early 2000s to a growing literacy crisis and the absence of a socio-cultural lifestyle around story reading. She has academic degrees in education from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) with a specialisation in Literacy and Language, which are her thesis subjects. She is a member of the Goa State Child Committee, faculty on the MA Elementary Education course of TISS and a Library Educator’s Course. Sujata has conducted literacy research for Goa, has worked and writes on various research topics; and mentors a growing tribe of library educators in the country.
Bookworm began in September 2005 out of Panaji, with the thought of creating a rich and accessible collection of childrens’ books. ‘Bookworm’ – a name which expresses the key quotient of the quintessential book lover has since then evolved to encompass several streams of thought – to impart food for the soul, broadening horizons of opportunities for children who have few or no one who read with them, to create a tool which empowers and recognises the need to comprehend the written word.
With a vision to inspire and develop a love for reading as a way of life, nurturing humane engagement in every girl, boy and others, Bookworm works with children, youth, adults and the larger community in diverse and varied contexts.
Bookworm library holds a collection of over 27,000 books for children of all ages and abilities, and includes some of the finest and highest quality of children’s literature in the entire country. The Library also holds workshops and events throughout the year, reinforcing the idea of the Library as an open and creative space for all.
Bookworm’s ‘Mobile Outreach Programme’ is a community-based library programme that takes books to children, and facilitates library sessions in communities which have no immediate access to a library due to various social, economic or cultural circumstances.
Bookworm also runs a ‘Libraries in School’ programme which provides a library experience and resources to schools which do not have library facilities.
In working with the space of library as a dynamic of change, empowerment, action and joy, we have been supporting various groups within Goa and outside through workshops and trainings.
As part of its ‘Professional Development program’, every year Bookworm offers a Library Educators Certificate Course, a first of its kind Library course, open to all individuals working with children and books.
Besides these programs, Bookworm has a mobile library. The ‘Mobile Outreach Programme’ (MOP) was conceptualised in 2011 to take the library into community spaces reaching out to the children. Children who access MOP are mostly first generation school goers between the ages 3 to 13. With few or no adults to read with them or to introduce the library to them, this program fosters informed reading for every child irrespective of his/her environment.
A story is chosen based on what the children relate to. It has been found effective and important to choose a story which is about something specific in the immediate socio-cultural environment of the children. It not only echoes a personal interest as an understood identifier but also bridges the gap in the literacy-related activities that follow.
The activity is typically a package of discussing elements in the story and expressing it through multiple forms – games designed to fit into the resource plan, a song written and put tune to, gestures, a drawing activity and avid discussions around it. A lending library is set up with every child who comes for 3 consecutive sessions. The resource person discusses each book when the child returns it drawing parallels to their lives and the story/ reading. The book is welcomed into their lives and becomes an extension of their world.
MOP becomes a woven carpet of children who have participated in the world of books and with every session, takes another step towards welcoming the world of books into their lives and interweaving it with their own contexts.
When the pandemic hit, the library closed down for a month and a half, a first since it started 15 years back. The vision for library work is that in times like the pandemic they needed to be most active but such was the nature of the time. Their programs that involved direct interaction with children and adults through schools, communities, and physical workshops and activities in the library, had to be reimagined and alternate ways of reaching out, thought of. What was reassuring was that the team responded quite quickly, reaffirming their vision and attempting to hold strong despite team insecurities, an unknown future in the world and as a Trust, the concern about financial sustainability. Running a library of this scale, one is susceptible to roadblocks and challenges. A large number of people depend on them, competing with larger societal concerns; along with funding, are causes for concern. The love for reading begins at a young age, which makes timely interventions critical.
The last year has shifted most learning into the remote, and most interactions through a screen. With this abrupt switch into the virtual, most children are missing out on physical tangible resources to access and engage with.
Choose the Library, with their calendar of reading support activities, it will be the best decision you make