Reading The Word: Why We Need Public Libraries In Odisha?

The Odisha Society of Americas (OSA) organized a webinar on “Empowering Odisha through State-of-the-art Public Library System” as part of the 52^nd OSA Annual Convention on July 2. OSA has been advocating for a Public Library System for many years now because in the US, the members have seen the advantages their children have received from the public libraries, and they want the children and youth in Odisha to benefit from access to similar resources.

With the presence of key stakeholders such as Ministers and Secretaries of the Government, the webinar engaged with a wide range of issues from internet connectivity for digital access to the importance of libraries. One key point that came up was creating a demand for libraries. Tusharkanti Behera, Minister for E & IT as well as Sports and Youth Services, spoke about the importance of attracting people to the libraries and making people understand the value of libraries. A representative of the district administration of Sambalpur also emphasized on the need for developing a reading habit among schoolchildren.

Coincidentally, the month (19^th June to 18^th July) is being celebrated as the National Reading Month in India. This is to commemorate the contribution of  P N Panicker, whose death anniversary on 19^th June has been declared as the National Reading Day since 2017. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, only nationalized a day, which had been earlier celebrated as the State Reading Day in Kerala since 1996 because of his role as Founder of the Library Movement in Kerala. This year, in fact, marks the Silver Jubilee of the celebrations. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has also asked schools this year to celebrate it with online reading activities because of the pandemic. In this context, I would like to reflect upon our perception of “reading” and at the same time, why it is so important.

In my 14 years of working towards a library movement in Odisha through Bakul Foundation, I realized that the biggest challenge in promoting “Reading” was not TV or social media as is often made out to be, but our perception of what is “Education”. Most parents and teachers do not see the value in creating a “reading habit”, in reading beyond the textbooks.  And the results are disastrous. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) has been coming out with shocking facts since 2005 about the reading skills in children, and even now, almost 50% of children in grade V cannot read the textbooks of grade II. What then are they getting out of school?

Reading is a fundamental skill in any print culture. The global society is depending increasingly on literacy as a major factor for progress. The ability to read and write is becoming an imperative to contribute actively to society. Skills in reading enable learners to benefit from educational activities and to participate fully in the social and economic activities in which they take part. Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Friere said that “reading the word” was important in “reading the world”. Reading is also fundamental to progress and success in other school subjects.

Many inspirational biographies talk of how a reading habit had a transformative effect in the making of a great personality. Ben Carson, one of the most famous brain surgeons in the world and the Chair of the most acclaimed medical school in the world at Johns Hopkins University, tells us in his autobiography that he was growing up as the stereotypical African American hooligan until he followed his mother’s advice of reading just two books a week. Similarly, Andrew Carnegie, one of the world’s richest persons and greatest philanthropists in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, grew up as a working-class person, who used his access to someone’s personal library to educate himself. Carnegie’s life changed after that and, therefore, he spent most of his wealth in creating libraries so that working boys like him could transform their lives. He believed that the public library was an efficient and rational way that allowed those who were most able and motivated to educate themselves and allowed them to attain high status positions regardless of their background.

Not surprisingly, the members of OSA have seen the benefits of Carnegie’s legacy, and have developed as a good pressure group working with the Government of Odisha to help create a good public library system. But all of us, who are in Odisha, need to understand the value of libraries and help create the demand for libraries by working towards creating readers.