Author: Rang Kaarwaan Team
Rang Kaarwaan is a women-led theatre and arts-based organisation that identifies and nurtures intergenerational local leaders, guiding them through a transformative journey from awareness to advocacy. We create collaborative and exploratory spaces for community members to learn about themselves and shape community-driven solutions. Through theatre and arts, we create experiential learning environments that encourage critical thinking, self-expression, and dialogue. Our problem-posing model challenges individuals to analyse the conditions of their lives, empowering communities to question oppressive systems and collectively create meaningful change.
Rang Kaarwaan’s library ‘Prangan Library and Learning Centre’ is located in the hilly areas of Champawat, Uttarakhand. We are in the early stages of building our library, its practices and currently have a small collection of books. When we started, our library did not have proper tools to display the book collection, so our activities were primarily concentrated around storytelling and read-aloud sessions. We also conducted theater-related activities, conversations with the children, and sessions related to social-emotional learning. The library was frequented by children, and we also had a few regulars, but we felt like we were offering a limited number of library programs. We wanted to better track children’s reading journeys and help them connect more with our collection.
We saw a decrease in the number of children visiting the library, and we realized that something needed to be changed. The limited number of activities and resources were perhaps making the library less engaging for them. We knew that the children here had difficulty reading books, listening to or telling stories, and some even struggled with basic reading. We saw the value in…and we wanted to improve so that the children could explore new ways of learning.
However, after some time, when they came to our library, they not only started reading the stories in the books but also began to think about them. A major positive shift occurred in our educators’ approach/technique to executing library practices and management, when we partnered with Bookworm through their Library Mentoring Support program. This program opened up many new possibilities for us. Through the sessions our library educators participated in, we introduced fun and informative activities, such as a session on making their own library cards, so the children could feel more connected to the library and reignite their interest in books. Although at first, we couldn’t see any ascending shift in daily footfalls but as we remained stuck to the idea of making learning creative and fun, gradually we could see more kids joining the library again.
Increasing Daily Footfalls –
As time passed by and we improved our sessions, new children and even former ones started visiting the library frequently. The library cards helped the children feel like it is their own Inclusive Library and they began borrowing more books. Our Book Talk sessions also became a big hit, as children started sharing their favorite stories with their friends. This particular idea brought a new excitement to reading.
Creating a Welcoming Space:
We wanted the library to feel connected to nature, so we brought in some plants and pots. The goal was to make the library a space where children wouldn’t just come to read, but would also express freely, feel motivated to grow, learn, and be creative.
We also faced some challenges during the monsoon season when the roads and routes were not in a condition to be walked on, and so, fewer children were able to make it to the library. But once the weather condition came back to its normal state, the children came back, and we held library space visualization sessions that helped inspire us to improve our library setup.
We took some great ideas from the children and worked on making the space better. Bookworm played a pivotal role in helping us with the library setup and with their help, we added new book display shelves, installed a water filter for clean drinking water, and even put up curtains to keep the dust at bay from ruining the books.
Team/Librarian mentorship and skill building –
We are learning a lot from these sessions, and the positive changes we are seeing in the children greatly inspire us. We constantly evaluate our progress and observe how we are improving. Initially, we faced difficulty in displaying books properly, as we didn’t have any method to present them in an engaging way. However, when we had our first session, where we discussed library cards with the children, we shared this idea with our entire team. Then, we held this session in our library, and when we gave the children ownership of the library, we realized the importance of this step. After that, we introduced ‘Book talks’ and conducted them together with our team. We then observed that the children started sharing their books with each other through the “book talk” method. It felt like we had introduced a new and exciting way for the children to connect with reading. Gradually, we became part of several discussions, and we asked the children what they felt should be in the library or what changes they would like. We listened to their suggestions and then organized a ‘visualization session,’ where the children created artwork to express how they wanted the library to look. After that, we improved the library’s infrastructure based on their ideas. Through the process of creating library cards, we learned many new things, such as the significant increase in the number of books being borrowed. Then, we began using “reading milestones,” which provided us with more data. Based on the books, we set certain targets and placed small gifts as incentives to encourage the children. This helped the children feel more connected to the books. Now, we feel that our library is truly functioning like a library, and our experience has taught us how important it is to make the library an inspiring and engaging place for children.
The past six months have been truly transformative, not just for the library, but also for the children who come here regularly. Every small change and improvement has made the library a more fun and exciting place to learn and share. We’re looking forward to many more months of growth and learning! This journey is just the beginning, and our vision is to turn the library into a space where children can express themselves, discover new things, be creative, and chase their dreams. Over time, our team has learned a lot from these sessions. The positive changes we see in the children have really motivated us. We constantly evaluate our progress and see how much we’ve improved. Whenever it’s time to distribute books, we conduct a “Book Talk” to grab the children’s attention, inspire them, and get them excited about reading. Our library has now become a vibrant space where children actively engage, read, and express their creativity. We’re excited to continue this inspiring journey ahead.