The world of books is imaginative and
creative and when a child enters this magical
world, there is a lot that can inspire him. The
place that introduces this world of books to
children in the library. Despite being a small
state, Goa is home to many a library and
bookstore and one such library, Bookworm,
in Taleigao, recently received the Goa State
Best Library award. This is the third year since
this award was instituted by the Department of
Art and Culture; the previous award winners
being Gomant Vidya Niketan, Margao and
Saraswat Mandir Library, Panjim. Although it
is very satisfying to get an award, for Sujata
Noronha, the Director of Bookworm, it is more
than that: “I believe that a state that looks
at a library as an institute is a valued state.
Bookworm is been recognised by the society
and this award is an validation for our team of
13 members with three currently running main
programmes,” says Sujata. The Bookworm
Library has now expanded to keep books for
adults as well, believing that reading is an
important activity across all ages. The place
is open from Monday to Saturday from 10am
to 6pm.
Bookworm, an important hub for reading
and discussing books, is a charitable trust,
managed by trustees Dr Lucio Fernandes,
Dr Fernando Noronha and Dagmar Peres da
Silva, that supports reading and spreads the
love for books. The team is led by Director
Sujata Noronha, a literacy educator with
extensive experience in literacy instruction
and children’s literature.
Speaking about the culture of reading,
Sujata explains her observation: “In this age
with so much entertainment around children,
they don’t want to read. But with our work
and experience, it shows the opposite. Stories
require a human to transpire them and it
takes sharing for the stories to get around.
It is a cultural practice where one person
gives another person a story in the form of
writing, poetry or songs. Our experience is
to take stories to children and the response
of the children is rich and high. Parents
have a notion that libraries and reading is
dead or dormant. However, few do come
with their children, especially parents who
are readers themselves.” She adds that they
receive nearly 30-40 children per week. The
Bookworm Library also has a pre-school
reading programme that has been running for
the last three years and children show a lot of
excitement when the stories are read out to
them.
Bookworm, which recently celebrated its
tenth anniversary, runs three programmes: the
Bookworm library, the school programmes
and the Mobile Outreach Programme. The
school and mobile outreach programmes
have helped create love for reading among
young students. With colourful and animated
covers, many children don’t mind borrowing
books for reading. “Last year, we covered
eight schools through the school programme
and this year we’ll be visiting nine schools.
These are schools that don’t have space or
time for a library and the students wait for
books. We cover two schools per day with a
team of eight visiting both the schools. We
take a ratio of 1:3 so each student gets one
of three books to select. We rotate the books
every three months,” says Sujata, who takes
the school programme to students of Classes
1 to 7. The Mobile Outreach Program is their
community outreach program which takes the
whole library experience to underprivileged
communities.
The library currently houses 20,000 books
in its collection and the children have every
opportunity to read an extensive range of
books. “The library should not be treated as
a daycare centre by the parents. They should
show the same excitement as they would while
taking their children to the theatre. Unless
that happens, the children will not show
interest in reading,” she explains. The library is
open to donation of books and many parents
donate books which their children have
read. “Recently, a parent donated a box of 50
wonderful books. It is very encouraging for the
library,” adds Sujata
