From rooms to doors from boats, divers in the history of moving libraries in India

Libraries have been present worldwide for centuries. When I was in the third grade, I was exciting as something new and a book worm and a journey enthusiast. A ship. And not just any ship, a ship called logo hope. What is special about this fleet, you can ask? For an eight -year -old child who played books, for the first time to go inside a ship and find it full of books in every corner. This was the first time I was introduced to the concept of a moving library, and over time I learned how revolutionary it was in a developing country.

Prior to the invention of technology and internet, a major way to pass on knowledge was through books and writing. Access to this knowledge was mainly through educational institutions and more importantly, through public libraries. Earlier, traditional libraries were very high in developed areas of the country, essentially affecting the same reach. With social issues such as untouchability and inequality, every nook and cranny persecute, it was often more than marginalized communities that were at the end of this inaccessible.

To bridge this difference, the concept of “moving libraries” emerged in India. On wheels, these libraries bring books and educational resources to those who cannot have access to traditional libraries due to geographical, social or economic obstacles. Such a moving library, popularly called mobile library, fulfills the population of rural and road, ensuring that books and learning are not limited to urban centers.

Books on wheels

The concept of mobile libraries is not new; It has been present globally in various forms, including book carts, travel librarians and postal book services. The first moving library in India was probably a bullock car filled with books leading around the Melavasal near Mannarguri in Tamil Nadu in 1931. There is an initiative for people in deep rural areas of India to ensure that books have access to SV Kanagasbai Pillai, a Mannarguri-based engineer.

India’s first mobile library near Mannarguri in Tamil Nadu in 1931. Photo Credit: Hindu Archives

While providing education to those who could not reach schools and other institutions, Pillai had introduced classes in various villages, through which hundreds of people learned to study and write in Tamil. Started as a social work effort, Pillai soon realized that even after learning how to read and write, most rural villages did not have to reach books or papers. This inspired him to create a mobile library, which could also collect books and was designed to store a bull.

Books mainly deal with business skill reform books for farmers and other villagers, which have suggestions about horticulture, farming and various other cottage industries. Soon many other books, including legends and parables, joined the collection. A hundred villages were visited by this moving library, making sure that thousands of people can borrow books of their choice until the car came with a tour in its next round. As time changed and gramophones became popular, records were taken in carts with gramophones to get more attached to the villagers.

In the mid -20th century, this idea in India gained more traction when literacy campaign and educational reforms became stronger, and people recognized the need to provide more books. Thus the development of moving libraries of India started. Bull carts, autorickshaws, vans, cycles, animals back, boats and WhatsApp. This revolutionary idea has become very strong in previous years, and soon libraries across the country started having a mobile library to ensure better access.

‘Adhar’, the library is engaged in a camel car, which is ready for a round in Bassi village of Jaipur district of Rajasthan. , Photo Credit: Hindu Archives

Is it a boat, a ship or a library?

With the flowering of the transport industry in the years, the library began to have more avenues to move forward. From the bull’s vehicles and the cycle, it began converting buses, vans and boats into libraries for a broader population. Over the years, they developed by incorporating technology and digital resources to improve their impact. There are some unique libraries across the country that are moving forward.

The Delhi Public Library was one of the first institutions to introduce a mobile library van in 1957. The initiative inspired other states and organizations to launch similar projects. In Tamil Nadu, a bicycle library is being run by an NGO, Dulkal, while Maharashtra has several initiatives such as vans and walking library for bull carts. In areas connected to waterways like West Bengal and Kerala, houseboats have been converted into libraries. The boat library of young readers in Kolkata is known as India’s first boat library and provides various types of books in English, Hindi and Bengali, as well as activities like story and book launch. There is also a tram-converted library in Kolkata, which has developed over time to provide WiFi access to readers availing e-books.

Stories Library Cafe Van in Chennai. , Photo Credit: Velkani Raj B

While the coastal states converted boats into libraries, desert communities in Rajasthan have improved and brought to the concept of camel libraries. In Jodhpur, Rajasthan, children make people around the Makshift Camel Library as it travels through rural villages in deserts. Buses converted to libraries are one of the most common formats of mobile libraries in India. In rural areas of Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Maharashtra and Karnataka, bus libraries are one of the easy options to avail books.

Future on wheels?

Over time, a lot of libraries are being cool corridors with filled bookshelves. The initiative promoting the doorstep library such as the Justbook, the doorstepbook in Kolkata, and the Know Library in Bangalore ensures that the libraries are developing over time and are not dying with more and more technical opportunities. To ensure that such an initiative and unique format of libraries are not taken into consideration among the public, adequate support from the government, private sector and local communities is required. As India progresses in ensuring better literacy rate, increasing the resources available for the betterment of society is very important and important in ensuring that no one is left behind in search of knowledge.

niranjana.ps@thehindu.co.in