The public library is a portal to a better future

The pandemic has once again illustrated the worth of the rural public library: the example of Karnataka

The COVID pandemic has disrupted our lives in far-reaching ways. Its impact on children has been devastating. Schools and colleges across many parts of the world had to close, leaving rural children largely disconnected from reading.

Rural libraries began to fill the vacuum. In little over a year in the midst of the pandemic, Karnataka’s rural public libraries, over 5,600 in number, enrolled 15 lakh rural children as members, free of charge. This was possible not only because of enrolment efforts as part of Oduva Belaku (‘Light of Reading’), the State’s rural library revitalisation programme. It was possible because children themselves wanted to come to the library. Rural communities have now taken this forward to create study circles, library gardens, book nests, art and craft activities, and more.

At a recent consultation with civil society organisations from across India for the development of rural libraries as community information centres, one of the many thoughtful suggestions was to place chessboards in the libraries. We agreed that this would help develop children’s confidence and their skills at strategy. Two days later, I was travelling in Kodagu, where I visited a gram panchayat in Mullusoge. Its library is spread over three rooms — one for a regular library with tables, books and computers; another, a quiet space with school textbooks for school students to come and study; and the third, a room with indoor board games for children. Four little girls were perched around a table, playing chess. Another girl, with a Rubik’s cube in her hands, was watching the chess game carefully. Just two days previously, we had been talking about placing chessboards in the libraries; here, in a rural library, the children were already playing chess. Communities are often well ahead in identifying their needs and acting on them. They only need some basic enabling conditions. 

The report of the National Knowledge Commission titled ‘Libraries: Gateways to Knowledge’ describes the vital role of libraries in social life: “Libraries have a recognized social function in making knowledge publicly available to all. They serve as local centres of information and learning, and are local gateways to national and global knowledge.” Public libraries are spaces for lifelong learning. They organise and share knowledge. They build communities. They are repositories not only for books, but for the ideas contained in them; they are community spaces; they are indeed gateways to the world.

An important role of the rural public library is to reduce inequities by providing free access to learning resources. Public libraries don’t ask users for money, social status, or documents. Instead, they strengthen communities by ensuring that users from all sections of society have access to knowledge that is relevant and useful to them. As Albert Einstein said, “The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.”

Amartya Sen showed us the vision of ‘development’ as freedom. If the meaning of development, in practical terms, is to eliminate obstacles to the individual’s exercise of agency, then in this great project, rural public libraries can make a significant difference on the ground. 

To remove barriers to rural students’ learning, Karnataka has extended rural library working hours, and kept them open on weekends. Over a third of rural libraries now have computers and Internet, while around half have been renovated, some with new buildings, furniture, murals, and study tables. In some cases, panchayats have thoughtfully set up terrace reading areas above the libraries, where students can continue to study even after library working hours.