Dear Dr Arun I cannot agree more! And yet, according to me, the amount of work needed to do this is the equivalent of starting an NGO that focuses on doing this (I am not saying we need to start an NGO, but the work needed amounts to that much) Some of my observations: 1) Teaching and librarianship are two careers, where people involved can transform human beings. Which means that people joining these professions should be chosen very carefully, monitored very carefully and obviously paid well too. Anyone not deeply interested in nurturing people are not really suited for these jobs, unless, they do certain specific jobs related to administration etc. 2) School librarianship needs a HUGE boost. It is like laying a foundation to a new generation of people and a school librarian can do wonders if he/she chooses to, and has the encouragement. Sadly, very few librarians think of school librarianship as a career choice, and even if they do, they are not exactly encouraged 3) Many organizations feel that if they provide access to information resources to all employees / students etc, there is no need for a librarian. The fact that a librarian is the best person to coordinate the needs, manage the licenses and the balance between print and internet resources is something that needs to be pushed strongly. Recently a large private hospital in my city, asked me how I could help them set up a 'digital library'. I asked them what they understood about a digital library. They mentioned - access to a bunch of journals. When I told them about the steps they needed to take, and also what else they could do, I took care to mention that to accomplish all this, it would need the efforts of a full time librarian. To make changes of the type I mention, will take a fair amount of effort - both from individual librarians as well as strong activities of library associations. Vasumathi Vasumathi Sriganesh QMed Knowledge Foundation (Trust - Reg No: E-24663) A-3, Shubham Centre, Cardinal Gracious Road Chakala, Andheri East, Mumbai 400099 Tel: 91-22-40054474 Mob: +919867292230 Web: www.qmed.org.in <http://www.qmedkf.org.in/> www.indianmedicalsites.in On Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 7:00 PM, Subbiah Arunachalam < subbiah.arunachalam@gmail.com> wrote:
Friends:
Check these two quizes from *Christian Science Monitor*.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2013/1015/Are-you-as-well-read-as-a-12th-grad...
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2012/0625/Are-you-as-well-read-as-a-10th-grad...
Reading maketh a man, is an old saying. By this yardstick, many of us, let alone children and the youth, will be found wanting. Don't you think the education we provide our children has a long way to go?
Libraries can play a key role in this effort. Let us reflect what we have done as LIS professionals so far and think of plans for the immediate future.
There are many great Indian novelists, short story writers and poets, both living and deceased. NBT and Sahitya Akademy have brought out many of their works. And other publishers too, in all Indian languages.
Many magazines carry serialized novels, novellas, short stories and poems. I knew as a child several people in my little hometown who used to gather each installment and bind the whole novel into a book. There are a few magazines like *Puthagam Pesutu* (in Tamil), which is entirely devoted to books, writers and ideas. These are performing services similar to the New York Review of Books and TLS. Let us encourage users of our libraries and reading rooms to get interested in such magazines.
Someone I know, a writer of historical fiction with three novels in Tamil and one in English and a few more in the pipeline, has decided to read at least one book (in print and not on Kindle) every week. He also belongs to a discussion group which meets once a month to discuss a great novel and the impact it has had on the members of the group and society in general. He belongs to a Facebook list which discusses similar matters. We can encourage such models among users of our libraries.
Let us encourage reading among our children and the youth. Our public libraries and school libraries can play a major role in this.
It is an encouraging sign that the sale of books is increasing every year at major book fairs in India, albeit most of the sale is accounted for by certain categories (like self-help).
Best.
Arun
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