Librarians Meet 2018 at Penguin Random House

Librarians save lives by handing the right book at the right time to a kid in need - Judy Blume

With the advent of information and technology, the role of libraries and librarians is growing. Keeping this in mind Penguin Random House held a Librarians Meet on 28 November, 2018 at the India International Centre where our School was represented by School librarian, Ms. Tarannum Athar.

Random house is a prominent name in the field of publishing and has been publishing widespread books in India as well as globally. This was their first ever librarians meet which was attended by several librarians of Delhi-NCR.

The inaugural session was conducted by Mr. Gaurav Shrinagesh, CEO of Penguin Random House. He gave a brief idea of the session and discussed the importance of the role of librarians, books and how technology plays a pivotal role in modern libraries.

Ms. Madhu Bhargava, librarian of Woodstock School, Dehradun took a thirty-minute session on the the importance of libraries in todays changing world. She ushered us to think and design innovative activities in the library for students. She gave an insight into the life of the librarian and how the librarian is important in shaping the students life by connecting learners and facilitating communication by collaborating with teachers. She explained the importance of documentation for the librarian. She showed some videos on how children learn and also some others of some model libraries around the world. One such video was of a school in Mumbai which reinvented the American Library setup in Mumbai.Ms. Bhargava gave us a keyword called PAP which means Plan, Act and Publish.

The next session was conducted by Dr. Tanushree Singh, author, psychologist, blogger and storyteller at Chatovercuppa. We discussed issues pertaining to the children of todays generation, the diminishing habits of reading among senior students and how we can possibly tackle these. She laid emphasis upon breaking the barriers and making all kinds of books accessible to readers. Dr. Tanushree Singh runs her own community library called Reading Raccoons for the Poor. She also conducts story telling sessions in various schools of Delhi and the NCR.

As the session progressed, there was a panel discussion -Join the dots: identifying and transforming readers headed by Mr. Amit Sareen of Cool School, by one Mr. Wendy, teacher at the British School, Ms. Madhu Bhargava and Dr. Tanushree Singh. Libraries play a critical role in turning a non-reader into a reader and librarians are the mediators between a reader and a book. Parents play an important role in the lives of their kids too. Kids can be made potential readers from a very young age if attention is paid by the parent/ teacher/ librarian at school. Reading stories to children helps open their imagination and ushers them to want to read.

The panel discussion was interrupted author and Union Minister, Ms. Maneka Gandhi arrived. She addressed the audience about her latest book titled Theres a Monster under my Bed. The book will be released in mid-December. Ms. Gandhi also spoke about the importance of libraries and congratulated each one of us for adopting this profession!

All the sessions went well and at the end Penguin Random House shared a presentation on their bestseller books.

The closing speech was followed by lunch.

It was a day well spent where each one of us took back valuable information which I am sure we will assimilate in the way we manage our libraries and the children who frequent them. Not only this, we also received 3 books from the hosts to add as resources in our School library.

Ms. Tarannum Athar, Librarian.