Most adults who come to a Professional Development offering on Libraries at Bookworm, carry with them a notion about libraries. We all do. These notions simply stated include the idea of a space, books, an exchange of books and animation.
After experiencing the possibilities of library work through a capacity building offering, responses read like this..
A Library is…
‘Dynamic, it is living, it can shape shift!’
‘A community space where both children and adults actively participate’
‘एक ऐसी जगह हैं, जहा किताब होती हैं, जिसके माध्यम से हम दुनिया की सैर कर सकते हैं। हमारी कला को निखार सकते हैं। सुरक्षित और खुशी महसूस कर सकते हैं।’
‘A happy place between teachers and students’
“It is a space that gives without saying. It is a space with jaan”
What enables these shifts ?
Discussion on ‘Why Libraries’
In 2018, Bookworm was invited by the Wipro Foundation to develop a short term offering that could enable organizations who are working in the field of education with children to experience the why of libraries and to think about what one can do to change the practice of libraries in one’s own work. The macro vision has been to stimulate and support library work as an active mode of learning and thinking for all children both within formal systems and without. At the micro-level, the vision is to engage educators, development sector entrepreneurs into spring-boarding their library practice within their own work contexts.
The Introduction to Libraries is a 2-part workshop that is facilitated over 3 months. Post part one which is a physical contact period, participants are expected to plan and conduct a Library Activity project over 6-8 sessions with children, as a practice component of the workshop. Part Two of the workshop has been explored both as a physical contact and a virtual contact in varied iterations. The contact period is designed to open elements of a children’s library and library work that includes aspects such as People, Space, Collection, Engagement, Administration, Interaction and Values. We intentionally host the workshop at the Bookworm library as it allows participants to experience and engage with a living, breathing, thriving, library space.
Small Group Discussions
‘I have come to see libraries as creative, collaborative spaces that have potential to meet diverse objectives and needs. There is also renewed respect and value for professionals and educators working in the library space.’
Alumni from the cohort of 2022
One of the primary objectives of the Introduction to Libraries workshop is to introduce the idea of a library, both physically, as an embodied experience through our bodies and emotions, and conceptually through ideas, texts and sessions. We hope to disrupt current conventional understanding of libraries as a severe store-house of books and open a vision of a living breathing library where users feel safe and joyful, read and share, and also experience ideas both challenging and beautiful.
‘The Book Talks really opened up an emotional window to books. The library and the collection itself were a treasure trove.’
Alumni from the cohort of 2021
Another objective of the workshop has been to open theoretical aspects of a children’s library alongwith practices and activities. Many participants share that they used to read a few books per year, but through this workshop exposure and access to a rich collection, they now feel encouraged to read because they are beginning to see stories as an extension of human lives, as a communication between one human to another.
“On entering I was touched by the simplicity which got reflected in space, people and participants”
Alumni from the cohort of 2023
The selection of participants for the workshop has been a fluid process shaped by the Wipro Foundation. Over the years, a percentage of the participants who come for the workshop are engaged with work whose core focus is library, and hence the workshop is an opportunity for participants to explore what they may want to do, and what direction they would like their work to take.
The diversity of participants adds a lot of value to the discussions and conversations in the workshop. Everything comes from real experience and practice. This also pushes us and our team to think and deepen our work with children.
‘The workshop has expanded the meaning and possibility of what a library can be’
Alumni from the cohort of 2019
In our own work, we have experienced how our ability to understand and articulate the why of the work we are doing plays a critical role in our own ownership and ability to prepare, plan and execute, in ways that are genuine and contextual.
Emily Ford in her paper on What do we do and why do we do it?, shares this need explicitly: “When every library worker engages daily with the question, ‘what do I do and why do I do it?’ we will be better situated to have meaningful conversations with one another. We will be able to better articulate amongst ourselves our goals and our missions. We will have a deeper understanding of the societal benefit we provide and we will better position ourselves when external conversations occur.’ (Ford, 2012).
Theatre
‘लाइब्रेरी को हमेशा जिंदा कैसे रखना है। बच्चों का लाइब्रेरी के साथ खेल खेल में एक प्यारा रिश्ता कैसे बनाते है। टीम वर्क कैसे करते है। लाइब्रेरी को छोटी छोटी चीजों से मिलाकर इतना जीवित माहोल कैसे बनाते है। अलग अलग प्रकार की अलग अलग आयु के बच्चो की किताबो को कैसे बेहतर तरीके से बनाना है। और भी बहुत एक्टिविटीज और बहुत कुछ जो आपको देख देख के सीखा हैं। बस ‘
Alumni from the cohort of 2024
Workshops at Bookworm are experiential. Experiencing a practice, an idea, a thought that is being conveyed, tends to seed this in ways that only listening cannot. The act of learning being a multimodal one applies to adults too. In interactions with schools, an important act that has supported relationship building, has been to invite school heads and teachers to experience that the library is filled with possibilities to enhance literacy, learning and critical thinking. This is critical as it allows the adult to first experience the possibilities of the library, and be convinced of how much it could play a role in a child’s life.
‘After the experience of the Library Activity and receiving feedback from peers and library educators at Bookworm, I see many windows of learning open up including the inherent value of a library.’
Alumni from the cohort of 2022
Another core part of the workshop design has been the anchor of taking back one aspect of learning to practice in one’s own work context with children. The act of exploring a learning in practice with children grounds the learning in a way that makes it meaningful and not limited to one’s own experience of it, or to the theory of it. In our first offering in 2018, we began with 20 participants who attended Part One of the workshop, and closed with 13 participants who worked on the challenge of implementing one idea from the workshop, into library practice with children. For a number of participants, especially those who do not work directly with children, this act of taking an idea into practice has been challenging.
We also realized as a resource organization that our own support through the distant period needs to change. In 2023, through a framework of Gradual Release of Responsibility, participants were closely supported in the initial phase of their library activity and scaffolded in a way that they could then independently work on their activities.
Read Aloud
‘किताबों के ज़रिए खुद को जान पाते हैं ये तो जानते ही थे मगर मुझे ये नहीं पता था कि छोटे बच्चों और मां बाप को साथ जोड़ने के लिए भी लाइब्रेरी इतनी कारगर हो सकती है, ये बात का खुलासा सालेगाव की लाइब्रेरी में हुआ जब मां बाप और छोटे छोटे बच्चों को किताबों के ज़रिए एक दूसरे को जानते और समझते देखा,ये तभी हो पाया जब हम एक्सपोजर विजिट के लिए सालेगाव की लाइब्रेरी में गए’
Alumni from the cohort of 2024
The design of the Introduction to Libraries workshop has changed with the learnings that we have absorbed as a team. A shift in recent years has been to include time in the contact for direct observation of sessions with children. Bookworm’s library work is active across schools and communities, and through different models of engagement. For many participants the opportunity to observe a library session in progress with children, and directly experience the joys and challenges of this, has been a concrete part of learning. In our last offering, the contact also included a Library Mela where participants could directly engage with children in the field and reflect on how the engagement went and what they could do differently in the future.
A learning that we have come to as we continue on this journey of professional development, is that ideas take time to transfer into practice, practices take time to seed, and changes at the organizational level need sustained mentoring. In a number of cases, founders of organizations have first participated and experienced the possibility of the library through this offering, and then recommended other team members to also participate in the same. Individuals and organizations, who have continued to invest in training and learning through varied opportunities (Long Term courses, online workshops and sessions, reaching out for support when faced with dilemmas), have demonstrated that professional development is a continuous process, and needs consistent interaction.
Our journey with Kalpakta Reading Room, founded by Tolesh Borkar began in 2020 during the pandemic, when Tolesh reached out for guidance in activating a library for the children in the community of Sirsi. In 2021, Tolesh and a co-team member, participated in the Introduction to Libraries workshop. Since then, two other team members have attended the workshop in subsequent years and also been a part of other professional development offerings that Bookworm holds.
Tolesh shares “Library work extends beyond storytelling and book issuing. It requires a deep understanding of library operations, activities, and purposes. To excel, library teams need ongoing capacity building and professional development. We’re fortunate to come across Bookworm Library’s comprehensive training programs, including Introduction to Library, Library Mentoring Support (LMS), Critical Literacy and Library Educators Certificate (LEC) course. These courses foster a deeper understanding of library work and enhance the knowledge and skills of team members.”
Revathi, is the founder of Vanavil started in 2005 to support children of two Nomadic communities, in Tamil Nadu. Revathi and Mithra attended the Introduction to Libraries workshop in 2023. Since then the Library has been activated in a different way in the Vanavil school and the community centres that Vanavil runs. In addition to this workshop, the Vanavil team have also been a part of other professional Development offerings that Bookworm holds.
Revathi says,:
“As the founder was an avid reader, books were an important part of the Vanavil pedagogy. However, since regular textbooks were far removed from anything the school was grappling with, story books and picture books were used as the only texts in the initial days. We had access to some good children’s books. We used them in a random and unplanned manner. In January 2023 when we went to Bookworm Library for the Introduction to Libraries workshop, a library existed in our school, but since then (over a period of 18 months), our library has come alive and has taken on a personality of its own.”
In both the above cases, organizations began their library professional development journeys through the Introduction to Libraries workshop, and continued this journey through engagement in further Professional Development opportunities*. We recognise this trust and desire to deepen practice as a key factor in strengthening capacity building.
Visual Arts in the Library
Over the years, the workshop content and our own learning has grown and been shaped by changes that take place on the field, and in our interaction with children. Since the scope of every workshop offering is based on direct library practice with children, we grow as facilitators through our library practice with children, and our own experience of what is possible in a library space.
‘As you walk into and spend time in a library’s embrace, I invite you to fill in the blanks. A Library is like a _____’
Alumni from the cohort of 2022
Library Cards
References
Ford, Emily (2012). What do we do and why do we do it?. In the Library with the Lead Pipe
*All text in italics is based on feedback that participants have shared based on experience of the Introduction to Libraries workshops at Bookworm
*Bookworm as a resource organization offers several library professional development programs including the Library Educators Certificate course, the Library Mentoring Support program, Library: Purpose and Practice workshops and Critical Literacy workshops, amongst others.
* This article was first published in the Oct-Nov. 2024 issue of Samuhik Pahal, an initiative of Wipro.