Friday, September 9, 2016

Bonding over books: Library launches ‘family reading time’

The move, aimed at encouraging parents and children to spend quality time reading together, has been received with 'great enthusiasm'.

THE Children’s Section at the Sector 34 Divisional Library (South) is abuzz with activity and the excitement in the air is hard to miss, as parents and children get together to bond over books, share stories, explore and devour the world of words, away from the humdrum of life and technology. To encourage reading among children and make parents a part of this effort, the library has introduced an interesting concept ‘Family Reading Time’, twice a month over the weekends.

According to librarian Parveen Khurana, it has been received with great enthusiasm. The library is open to the public seven days a week and Khurana says the need of the hour was to involve parents in making reading a fun-filled and sustainable activity, and also encourage families to spend productive time together. Apart from story-telling, which is a regular and popular activity, parents and children select a few books for reading, followed by informal conversations and discussions.

“The idea is to make this time interactive, so many parents take the initiative of selecting a word and then everyone gets together to create more words, and also these words in different ways,” adds Khurana. There are regular workshops on reading, creative writing, vocabulary, and as one parent mentioned, it’s a great way to spend time with children, encourage them to read a variety of book, understand their world and be a part of it. “Reading together is a tradition that is fast disappearing, as technology has consumed our life, and we hope we can make it absorbing for our children and us, for reading gives our personality so many new dimensions,” smiles Vinay Sharma, a teacher and parent.

The library, which is completely digital, and eco-friendly, is involving readers in many ways, and has set up clubs for English and public speaking, encouraging debates and discussions for confidence building and improving communication skills. The IAS club here has aspirants choose a topic, meet, discuss it, with an expert coming once a week to substantiate it all. A library, believes Khurana, is a space for community development, where people from all walks of life come together, read, share, discuss. So now, every Saturday members can enjoy a movie show together and can also use libribox, a blog created for e-books, where readers can choose from lakhs of books online. “We want more people to get the benefit of the facilities at the library,” sums up Khurana.

Regards

Pralhad Jadhav
Senior Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co


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