How the Tempe Public Library inherited 150 books written in Marathi
Tempe's Bhagyashree Barlingay donates 150 books in Marathi, hoping to preserve the language and culture of her people.
Marathi is one of India's 22 official
languages, and it now has its own section at Tempe Public Library thanks
to the persistence of one woman and her organization.
"Libraries are the soul of every
community," said Bhagyashree Barlingay, a Tempe woman who donated 150
books from her personal collection.
Marathi is one of the oldest languages,
dating back as far as the 13th century and is written in a script that is
unfamiliar to American eyes.
The books bring a piece of her homeland to
the country she's called home for 28 years and help preserve the language
and culture of her people.
"I've never liked the term 'melting
pot,' " Barlingay said. "America is more like a salad, each piece
retaining its own unique identity but adding to the greater whole."
The Tempe Public Library has seven other book
collections in different languages with Spanish being the largest, Tempe
Public Library Operations Supervisor Clay Workman said.
The Marathi language section, unveiled in a
ceremony late last month, is now the third-largest collection behind Chinese.
The group hopes to see such collections expand to Chandler, which also has a
large Indian population.
'A unique and fortunate situation'
Barlingay is president of Akshaybhasha,
a non-profit that promotes literacy, preserves Marathi culture and provides free anemia checks for women in India.
The group approached the Tempe library about
creating the collection last summer.
Workman called it a "unique and
fortunate situation" that Barlingay and the larger group were able to
donate books in good condition, saving the library that task.
The group and volunteers from the broader
Indian community also stepped in to help the library catalog the books, which
would have been difficult for someone who doesn't speak the language.
'Diversity to bring unity'
Dr. Rachel Misra, vice president of the Indian Association of Phoenix, attended the opening event and
said the new section is not just helpful for Marathi speakers but helps
encourage members of other Asian-American groups to pursue similar projects and
unify the community as a whole.
"Indian children will appreciate their
own culture but learn to appreciate other cultures," Misra said, adding
that in the United States "we don't know each other" and the
collection helps educate the public on other cultures in their community, which
"helps stop animosity."
The event featured traditional Marathi songs
as well as skits, including a monologue from "My Fair Lady"
in Marathi and English.
Barlingay, Misra and many others in
attendance had immigrated to the U.S. and gained citizenship, but President
Donald Trump's executive orders on immigration were on their mind.
"With what Trump is promoting, this is
the answering call," Misra said, adding that literacy and cultural events
are a way of "bringing people together" to help "understand each
other."
Farhana Ahmed, who is from Bangladesh and
serves as chairwoman of the AZGOP Asian American Coalition, said she hopes
to bring similar Bengali language sections to Valley libraries.
"We are celebrating diversity to bring
unity," Ahmed said.
Barlingay invited Chandler City Councilmen
Mark Stewart and Sam Huang to the event in the hopes of encouraging Chandler to
sponsor a Marathi section in their libraries as well.
"By nature, human beings are
tribal," Stewart said. "Things like this are phenomenal and are what
helps bring people together."
Around the Valley
The Chandler Public Library's only other
foreign-language section is Spanish, Chandler Library Manager Daniel Lee
said. The library used to house other language sections but phased them out
because demand was low, he said.
The library would be willing to explore the
addition of other languages if there was demand, he said.
"The collection was just too small to
represent a wide range of interests," Lee said. "We didn't have
subject-matter experts who could determine if they were relevant titles,
even."
The same is true at the Maricopa County
Library District, which has 7,000 Spanish-language titles across its
19 branches, according to Communications Administrator Andrew Tucker.
The Phoenix Public Library system has 19
different languages represented, with collections in French, Russian, Chinese
and Hindi at the Burton Barr Central Library, Phoenix Library Community
Engagement Liaison Geraldine Hills said.
Tempe is the only Valley library with a
Marathi language section. Workman said a community should reach out if they are
looking to add their language to the library.
"We are eager to serve
non-English-speaking constituents that are among us," Workman said.
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
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