Motivating librarians towards community development

Select librarians of public libraries who have been functioning with a service mindset received orientation on further enhancement of capacities at a two-day program organised here recently by the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, under the auspices of Indian Public Library Movement (IPLM). Over 20 librarians drawn from Tiruchi, Coimbatore, Karur, Kanyakumari and Erode who had reached out to the community with training program for competitive examinations, and played a constructive role in bringing about health empowerment and gender equity as advocated by UN Sustainable goals shared their ideas and best practices.

G. Aruna and R. Rajkumar, Senior Scientists with M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, and District Library Officer A.P. Sivakumar guided the participants on finetuning the approach for conversion of libraries into vibrant knowledge centres. Such programs are meant to encourage librarians to have a sense of pride in the profession and think beyond book-lending, Mr. Sivakumar said.

The program, Ms. Aruna said, would enable the participants to prepare plans for community development and convert them into action, overcoming constraints of funds and manpower. The key to playing a role in the community development for librarians was networking with local organisations and building partnerships, the trainers said

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/motivating-librarians-towards-community-development/article19564147.ece