Sitting with a bunch of children in a village we asked an easy question: Do you like stories? The answer was unanimous as one may expect. But where do you get to know new stories? Text books, said one, from our grandma said another, from the teacher said a third. What about reading story books? Only one or two hands went up -- these were bigger children who heard of libraries in towns. The next week the children of this village began their own library. Within 9 months another 7 villages began their children's libraries. This is how these self-run, self-maintained village libraries were set up.....

Who should control the library?

If a library is put in a school or an elder is put in charge of it, then they may not have the same motivation as the kids for keeping it open every week. As kids they know how much they want the books. So we suggested that one boy and one girl be monitors. Two monitors were elected ...or rather were found! The idea was to rotate them after every 3 months. We went back from the village to the city the next day, happy that something was in the offing.

Next Week --- The books arrive

We spent the week visiting book stores in the city and found that there were both government subsidized children's books and slightly fancier knowledge books etc. We bought about 150 books at both higher and lower end price range, and it costed about Rs 2000. We were back with the village children on Sunday when there was no school and they would all be there. We sat and skimmed through some of the books. It was heartening that even those kids who dropped out of school joined in the library.

Training the monitors

We decided that we personally won't do any book issuing work (easy decision again) right from the word go. So the monitors got a note book and were told to write a child's name on each page. We would begin by having the boy monitor write a boy's name on page 1 and then the girl monitor would write a girl's name on page two and so on until all the children had a page number. Simultaneously the children were selecting the books and as their page was being created the book they selected was also entered with the issuing date and a column made for the return date. The books were numbered as well making them easier to enter. It took about 2-3 hours to get the 50-odd children onto the library system the first day. There were long queues and more children volunteers were roped in to do crowd control. Before the day was over it was decided that the library would be open every sunday from 1 PM onwards whether we come or not from the city.

Getting equipped.....

We played observers the next week not interefreing but watching the children return and issue their books. We gave them a large aluminium box with a lock and two keys -- one with each monitor. This costed about Rs 300. We didnt go the next 2-3 weeks but we found a carpentar in a neighbouring village who was willing to make small tables for the children. These costed another Rs 200 or so. Some tape, scissors etc were also given so the children could do book maintenance. we found that they themselves set up a system of fining Rs 0.50 if a book came back torn. So we'd have parents running to us when we visited to plead about the fine but they would pay when they realized this was for preserving the books. Every week a few kids would donate their pocket money to the library and everybody would clap when the Rs 1 or Rs 0.50 would be put into the cash box.

6 Months later.....

The word of the library spread to the school teachers and went to the other villages. From Class 5 onwards every village doesnt have a school and children from the village where we started the library attend schools in a nearby slightly bigger villages. So our kids would take the books to their village school and the word even reached the Block Development Officer. The teachers appreciated and encouraged village children to approach us and we began setting up libraries there too.

What was the most popular book....

Every few months we wanted to check how the book issuing and usage was going on. Children would be asked to descirbe stories they read or a book was shown and they were asked how many read how many pages. There would be a big spectrum of utility. Many would read one or two pages but only a few read the full book. But that was the whole point of the library. Those who read one or two pages today were using their reading skills in a relaxed, fun manner and would become better as time passes. With only text books the children had very limited reading practice.

One book was not particularly attractive as it was in black and white and very wordy. Not expecting many people to have looked at it we asked how many read this. All the children put their hand up excitedly. This was a book on Yoga. Pointing to a photograph we asked, can you do this. They all pushed and made space and began making the pose. From end to end, every yoga asana or pose, they had attempted just by looking at the picture.

That is the whole point of a library. The books are out there. What a particular reader wants, which book is read more, and which seldom read nobody knows. But they all together form a resource for all ages.

AID has worked with GRASS to set up these libraries in villages of Srikakulam Dist. They are inexpensive, but at the same time they sustain themselves due to the interest, energy and the enthusiasm of the village children who run and use them. The first library is 9 months old and still going strong.