Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears and never regrets by Leonardi Di Vinci.
With the spirit of learning alive, The Somaiya School, Mumbai, held a virtual library conference to bring together library professionals at the national level on 18 September 2021. The virtual conclave marked the attendance of almost 350 librarians from various parts of India.
The Principal of Somaiya School, Ms Parveen Shaikh, commenced the session with a brief note on the role of librarians in the field of education. She appreciated the growth and learning opportunities available to librarians. A short video of her school library reflected that a library is no longer a quiet place but a vibrant studio where ideas are churned out freely and in a spontaneous manner!
The second speaker, Ms Heeru Bhojwani, Librarian at the American School of Mumbai, dwelt on Librarians and the NEP. She stated that the core role of the NEP is to give universal access to quality and skill-based, concept-based, and project-based education
Ms Bhojwani emphasised upon the implementation of ideas and to avoid focusing only on listening and memorising.
The third speaker, Ms Rozmeen Saifee, teacher-librarian since 2013, spoke on the power of reading aloud. She commenced her session with a read-aloud from the book, Pickle Mania, by Shridevi Venkat. She shared ideas on how to engage students with a picture book. She recommended adopting the reading aloud activity for all age groups as it promotes critical thinking.
Ms Saifee recommended the following list of picture books to facilitate reading aloud among students:
The 7 habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey
Too Many Toys by David Shanon
Magnificent Makhana by Arvind Krish Bala
The Great Kapok Tree by Lyne Cherry
Susie will not speak by Shruthi Rao
Putul and the Dolphins by Mariam Kariam Ahlawat
The fourth speaker, Ms Arati Shriram, Librarian at Don Bosco School, Matunga, shared her thoughts on "The Library and Sustainable Development Goals. She stressed that SDG can be implemented in the library class, too. She suggested linking SDG with different subjects and the teacher-librarian to collaborate in their implementation.
The fifth speaker, Ms JoAnne Saldanha, a library educator for five years, mentioned that she always maintained a theme for her library and arranged books accordingly. It attracts and arouses interest in the children to read books, she said.
The exhaustive webinar concluded with a joint session on Fostering Writing Skills in the Library by Ms Gizelle Rodrigues and Ms Mangala Ganesh, librarians at Bengaluru IB School. They shared how writing is not an art but an expression of thought. Hence, anyone can write - teachers, students, parents, and the support staff, too. They concluded that reading strategies should lead to writing, and in turn writing, writing should encourage further reading.
The session was a highly enriching experience with several interesting and innovative takeaways.
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