School students enjoy a story-telling session.
But with school students increasingly being hooked to their laptops and iPads, the worry is that many in the current generation might never fully appreciate the joy of books.For years, libraries have been thronged by children searching for their favourite authors or preparing to spend a lazy weekend curled up with a novel in hand.
But the same technology that snatches away the joy of holding a book also seems to find a way to keep the current crop hooked to it. Along with all other goods and services that have gone from brick and mortar to their online avatar, so have libraries.
Online lending libraries have become a popular way of piquing interest among today's children to give book reading a shot, much to the delight of parents and teachers.
One such initiative that has seen success is iloveread.in (skip the dots and pronounce it)
“ILR was founded by Amrutash Mishra and Sahil Gore in Chennai, and launched in Coimbatore early this year.
People have the liberty to browse through a wide collection of books belonging to every genre possible and get them delivered with just a click.
We have tie-ups with several schools in Tamil Nadu where we have begun the Book Lovers Program for Schools (BLPS). A series of activities at BLPS equips teachers to handle storytelling sessions for the children.
The stories complement the curriculum and are for students upto class 8. It's a great platform for them to be exposed to the wonderful world of stories. Add-on libraries are also implemented in schools”, says R. Anitha, who runs ILR in Coimbatore.
“We conducted an interactive event recently in Coimbatore, and it was a great success. Ms. Shilpa Krishnan,a veteran storyteller from Chennai and a part of the BLPS program, enthralled kids in a fun session. She also spoke to parents about the importance of art in a child's life”, she adds.
Anitha signs off by saying, “In order to ensure we keep up with emerging trends in reading, we add atleast 400-odd books to our library each month.
People who aren't net-savvy can register and avail the service by phone as well. We have plans to infuse corporates with the love of reading soon too!”
Maya Gowri, a working young mother from Coimbatore comments, “My youngest son Vishwa is in class 4, and as much as I'd like to take him to the library every week, we parents sometimes do not find the time.
An online library is a great opportunity for us to inculcate the habit of reading in him, and through the convenience of a laptop.
Also, it's very useful for working professionals like me to come home and catch up on some much-needed lost reading from over the years!”
