Our Idea of the Library
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★ We want to make this library the most exploited children’s library in the world and we are working on our target of reaching out to 10,000 children from all sections of society in two years. That is why, we do not charge anything for reading inside the library.
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★ We have already partnered with Khelaghara, a school for slum children, Anand Ashram, an orphanage and the Thakkar Bapa Special Hostel for tribal students., a hostel for children of prisoners and B.B.C. Deaf and Dumb School The students of these institutions have been having library sessions at Bakul and we are working towards bringing more such institutions working with underprivileged children to exploit the resources of the library.
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★ Through a library we are making the world of books and knowledge accessible to children and the youth. We see the library becoming a potent instrument for building people’s capabilities to actualize the opportunities of a ‘knowledge economy’ and lessen the growing socio-economic inequalities.
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★ We see the library as not merely a collection of books but as an open forum that actively promotes a sensible reading culture among the children and youth. We hope to promote this through different activities like storytelling sessions, educational workshops, film screenings, student presentations, creative writing workshops, ecological treks, and health awareness camps etc.
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★ We want the library to be a space where children can discover themselves and their interests and have the opportunities to pursue and cultivate their interests.
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★ We also see the library as an institution that works towards generating the spirit of volunteerism among its users to undertake further initiatives in community development programs.
The Story so far: The entire library has been built with the small individual contributions of ordinary people without any corporate or institutional funding so far. The books are either directly donated or bought with the money donated. The first Bakul Children’s Library, located at 16, Satyanagar, Bhubaneswar, is already one of the best children’s libraries in India with a collection of about 8000 highly valuable and interesting books and multimedia, including some of the most best educational resources from all over the world. This has been largely possible due to major book collection drives at the University of Waterloo, Canada, Duke University, USA, HP, Bangalore, and BITS Pilani. The support is growing. Indian students at the University of North Carolina have just voted unanimously to support Bakul. The wonderful infrastructure of the library has been developed and the library is being run with the contributions of the core members of Bakul. Mr Ramesh Swain, eminent architect, is building an amphitheatre under the trees behind the library as an activity centre for storytelling sessions, theatre workshops etc.
Online Library Catalogue : Bakul Library aims at building a state of the art Online Library system which can be accessed any time and any where from the web. This online system will enable user to check the availability of books and multimedia, place a request, renew books and going forward get it delivered to your doorstep. The online system is currently under construction.