Varsha Prasad
Editor, TeacherTribe.world
Imagine this – You, your colleagues and a friend go to a public library. All of you have different agendas in mind. You want to access the latest research paper in the library. 2 of your colleagues want to listen to audiobooks while another wants to browse through the net to get some information for the next class. Your friend has accompanied you because she has booked one of the conference rooms in the library to take a few meetings.
In the next few hours, you are all done with your work. You have found and read through the research paper you wanted, your colleagues have accessed the audiobook and used the library’s internet facility to plan the next class. Meanwhile, your friend has also finished her office meeting using the library’s resources – the conference room, the projector and the internet.
Does this sound futuristic? Realistic? Does this sound like a utopian library? Maybe it does now, but this is what libraries in India are going to look like moving forward. Such libraries already exist in the west! I had the privilege recently, of witnessing a public library hosting all of these to its users. While some were browsing away and busy with research, some were listening to the podcast and audiobook collection offered by the library. Not to forget, the book supply had not dwindled due to the addition of the newer facilities.
Libraries have always been places of knowledge. With internet and other newer means of information taking precedence, libraries had lost importance, at least for the younger generations. But it is time to revive libraries and make them generation-worthy, by adding or including latest technologies to its list of facilities. In India, the time is not too far, where private libraries will catch up to this trend, slowly followed by public libraries.
What is your view on this? Write to me at varsha@greycaps.com.
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