Meghalaya Government plans to revamp State Central Library to attract young readers

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaDecember 3, 2023

A need to make libraries immersive, interesting and also to reclaim the lost reading spaces in a bid to attract readers especially the young generation by redesigning reader services and making it reader centric.

Speaking at the 38^th capacity building training program, of National Mission on Libraries for Public Library Personnel under the Ministry of Culture, government of India held on Tuesday, Commissioner & Secretary to the government of Meghalaya Department of Arts and Culture, Frederick Roy Kharkongor observed that redesigning library spaces will attract the young people steering them away from the “junk” found in the internet.

He pointed out that the library was the place that people venture to for reading and recreation, but now the children have it in the palm of their hands.

He further added, “In State Central Library, we have over 2,29,000 volumes, we have membership of about 30,000 plus but how many of those 30,000 people are coming into the library, we need to rethink, what now and where we want to be.”

The IAS officer fondly recollected the time when mobile libraries were launched a few years ago when he was secretary education department wherein the department launched a pilot project of mobile libraries along with some students called kali kit kot (car carrying books).

The young students who are fond of books would carry the books from block to block in remote villages and they would use it in every material be it animation, graphic novels etc. and this was a way of introducing classics to students and freedom fighters.

The project was confined to 8 blocks in East Khasi Hills due to financial constraints.

Kharkongor said that in the face of technological advancement, there is a need to re-invent, revisit, the kind of services that is being to the readers.

Stressing upon the need to adopt new trends, he said, “At the same time, the reading spaces need to be redesigned.”

As far as the State Central Library is concerned, Kharkongor said that it was one of the valuable repositories for scholars, students and public alike.

“However, there are many challenges that we face, it is old. We need to redesign how we use the space properly, especially the children’s corner,” he said.

Another proposal that the department had in mind was to have a students’ corner within the state central library which will be good for students appearing for competitive exams such as civil services, law, engineering, medicine, and management.

“We are in the process of giving shape to the students’ corner. We have been talking about it before COVID and hopefully try to bring it into fruition now in the next few months ahead,” Kharkongor said.

Turning his attention to district libraries, Kharkongor said that the district library in Jowai is well-maintained while other district libraries need strengthening.