LIBRARIAN MEET

(NOVEMBER 22, 2019)

“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 22 November, 2019 at the India International Centre where our School was represented by School librarian, Ms. Neeraj Sharma.

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 second 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. Andrea Bowie brand Marketing Manager at Penguin Random House UK took a session on Dream Big : Bringing stories to life . 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 student’s life by connecting learners and facilitating communication by collaborating with teachers. She showed some videos on how children learn and also some others of some model libraries around the world.

Panel Discussion on The Book is not for me was conducted by Dr. Tanushree Singh, author, psychologist, blogger and storyteller at ‘Chatovercuppa’and Author Deepak Dalal. We discussed issues pertaining to the children of today’s 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. 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.

Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia addressed the audience about importance of reading 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. 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.