ROLE OF LIBRARY TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF EDUCATION

Libraries

School libraries have been a subject of policy

recommendations for a long time, but a functioning

library in the school continues to be a rarity. It is

important that future planning treats the library as an

essential component of the school at all levels. Both

teachers and children need to be motivated and trained

to use the library as a resource for learning, pleasure,

and concentration. The school library should be

conceptualised as an intellectual space where teachers,

children and members of the community can expect

to find the means to deepen their knowledge and

imagination. A system of cataloguing books and other

materials available in the library needs to be developed

so that children can become self-reliant library users.

Apart from books and magazines, a school library

should provide access to the new information

technology to enable children and teachers to connect

with the wider world. In the initial stages of planning,

block-level or cluster-level libraries can be set up. In

the future, India must move towards equipping every

school, irrespective of its level, with a library. In many

parts of the country, community libraries are

functioning in rural areas, and government libraries exist

in many district headquarters. Futuristic planning would

require the amalgamation of such structures in a school

libr ary network in order to maximise the use of

resources. The Raja Ram Mohan Roy Library

Foundation can be given additional resources to act as

a nodal agency for conceptualising a library network

for schools and for monitoring it after it has been

created.

In the day-to-day life of a school, the library can

serve many different kinds of purposes. Restricting

the use of the library to one period a week seldom

allows children to cultivate a taste for reading. Facilities

are to be provided to allow children to borrow books.

Training of teachers in library management and use is

required to meet the demands of this situation. Where

the size of the school building permits a separate room

for the library, it is important to pay attention to creating

a positive ethos in this space by providing good lighting

and seating arrangements. It should even be possible

for a teacher to conduct a class in the library by drawing

upon its resources. It could also serve as a place for

holding discussions, watching a craftsman from the

community giving a demonstration, or listening to a

stor yteller. Creating such resource libraries to support

teachers at the cluster and block levels will complement

and strengthen curriculum renewal. Each block could

specialise in a subject area so that together there are

adequate resources in the district.

Libraries

One period a week to be devoted to librar y reading.

During this time, children sit and read silently in the

librar y. They r eturn the books borrowed the previous

week and bor row new ones.

If ther e is no library room, the teacher can bring out

books appropriate to the age group and allow children

to choose from the set. It is important to let the child

choose rather than having the teacher distribute the

books.

Library books can be brought into the language class .

For class projects, children can be asked to look up a

reference in the library.

Children can be asked to write about the book they

have read that week during the language class.

Children can be asked to share a stor y they have read

with the other children in class.