Betty Obura Ogange and Walter Buyu
With the closure of schools due to the pandemic, there has risen a need for skills development among teachers so that they can support distance and online learning. Self- learning approaches are now on the increase as it helps more teachers to access quality learning resources. The E- library for teachers project is a platform that is currently helping teachers to learn all by themselves.
If a library is for all, how does one design such a library and practice inclusion? Here are a few instances.
Y Udaya Chandar
NEP 2020, India’s most recent policy on education. A commentary.
Libraries have always been physical spaces we can go to, to learn and lose ourselves. But COVID has now forced us to rethink libraries. Here’s how a resourceful school librarian made sure that her students always had access to books during the pandemic.
This issue on libraries brings together some varied and rich experiences of librarians, library educators and book lovers. It gives us a bit of history and also hope that learning, knowledge seeking and escape can really all come together in a space where books and resources are available aplenty and where people are able to connect with people.
We all know that a library is a place that connects books and people. But this relationship also means that a library can change people and people too can change libraries. The value of the place and the values it conveys in myriad ways is the core of a library.
A library is a place to just be. One can create smaller places within the library by mindfully arranging furniture, and earmarking comfortable corners and centres. From places for large interactions to smaller nooks and corners for children to either read or reflect, dream or catch up on short naps, spaces can be created. Here is a check-list on how to organize places within a library.
When senior and middle school children air their views on what excites them about a library, it is worth listening. They echo feelings that are spontaneous, heartfelt and genuine. The descriptions range from ‘a feeling of home’, ‘a range of books’, ‘magical place’, ‘so versatile’ and so many more. Read on to enjoy.
Anandita Rao and Nayan Mehrotra
When we talk of a library having a good collection of books, what exactly do we mean? What is the basis on which we decide to engage or not engage with a collection of books? What goes into planning a collection of books for a library? This articles delves into these issues.
A teacher goes down memory lane and gets nostalgic about how stories used to pop up in every corner of the locality in which she lived and how the main community library was the place that hosted most of these tales.