Booked for life: British Library opens children's exclusive.

Remember the time when, as a child, you sat your parent down with a book, a big storybook with colourful pictures and a fascinating story. The bedtime stories you lived with and grew to love.

In an age when multimedia has taken over most of the waking free hours in a child’s life, one must remember that these books still exist and will do so for a long time. And keeping that alive, British Library, Ahmedabad, opened a special children’s section here on Monday.

The opening day had 46 young readers seeking registration while 50 more are expected the following day. "We had over 100 inquiries but many of the parents went back because of the rush," librarian Satish Deshpande said.

The collection of books includes more than 800 titles on subjects like arts, science, history, environment and fiction. The section also has a very interesting and wide ranging collection of over 130 videos and a collection of multimedia CD-Roms. The collection is aimed at children between the age of five and 15 years...

The section will also have a suggestion box where the junior members can write their comments, requirements and suggestions. "Today’s children have a lot more exposure in terms of visuals like television and the multimedia. The books these days too have more pictures and illustrations. What we are stressing on is information. We have on stock anything which will interest the child," Mr Robert Frost, first secretary cultural affairs, the British Council division, said.

A library should essentially reflect the needs of the readers and should adapt to local needs and other varying factors, .he added.

The decision to open a children’s section in Ahmedabad follows the success of the two similar sections in the western region, which opened in the BCL in Mumbai and subsequently at the BCL Pune last November. "While Mumbai had over 500 memberships by March this year, Pune had a phenomenal response with 200 children registering on the opening day and 100 more children on the following day," Mr Frost furthered.

Besides providing the children with reading and other information facilities, the Council has also been conducting various interactive sessions for the children. These sessions include story telling, writing, poetry sessions, etc. "We plan to do the same here," Mr Deshpande announced during the inaugural session.

The library was inaugurated by CEE director ‘Kartikeya Sarabhai. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sarabhai said, "School-going children see more of textbooks, which do not match reality. Hence it is necessary that the child gets to read non restrictive books to help open up their imagination and vocabulary."

Since the children’s library is located in a space carved out in the main library, the young readers are bound to wander out and inquire into the bigger books around, Mr Sarabhai added.

On the occasion, Mr Frost also invited sponsors to participate in the various programmes in terms of cultural events, theatre or even books.

To begin with, the membership is open only to children of BCL members though there are plans to invite children of non-members in the future, Mr Deshpande said.

Expressing his unhappiness on this issue, Prof V.J. Trivedi, former principal Gujarat College and an English professor, said, "The membership should be open to other children also as there are many who attend English medium schools whose parents are not conversant in English. The Rs 450 fee is a little too high and can be easily be brought down to Rs 300 where a child spends Rs 25 a month on reading."

However, judging from the parent-members present during the function, most did not seem to have any complaints. In fact more than enthusiastic parents were seen queuing up to get membership for their children. As for the selection made available, the children seemed thrilled. Sudipto Das, a Class 9 student, said, "I like reading informative and educational books and they are all there."

Prof. Trivedi pointed out, "One did not see any books on poetry. I think poetry reading is essential for a child even if he or she doesn’t understand as it helps the child to develop a sense of rhythm."

But this is just a modest start with over 800 books in stock, which the library plans to keep adding to at regular intervals. "Besides inviting young readers, we hope to provide a window for the local bookstores selling children’s books," Mr Frost said.

For a membership fee of Rs 450, the member’s children are entitled to two children’s books for three, weeks and one children’s video/multimedia for one week. The future plans for this section include conducting regular workshops, providing CBL kits, teaching children learning and information skills, identifying suitable projects and ‘organising programmes to sustaining their interests in reading and in books.

As Harish Naik, former editor of a children’s weekly and who has also authored over 500 books for children in Gujarati, disagreeing with the famous French author, Jules Verne who predicted that there print media would die, concludes, "Nothing can replace the Written Word."

Compiled from local news media