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 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.