Evaluation and Planning of the activities of a rural
library in Kerala
(Abstract)
S. Gopalakrishnan
Nair (late) and K. Vijayakumar*
The Library Movement
in Kerala has a history of more than a century. The libraries in the State have
been playing a vital role in socio-cultural development. The wide network of
libraries is one of the important factors that helped the State to achieve the
highest literacy rate among the Indian States.
In an age of
decentralised planning, rural libraries have the additional role of a
co-ordination agency of developmental activities at the grassroots-level,
besides their conventional role as centers of knowledge and information. As a
first step in this new direction, the libraries should undertake an assessment
of their activities hitherto, evaluate the changing reading habits and
preference of the members, and generate data based on the socio-economic
conditions of the localities concerned. This project is about such an effort
made by the V N Kesava Pillai Memorial Library (VNKPSV).
V N K P S Library is
one of the model libraries in the State and has a history of more than
half-a-century. The library has played a leading role in the development of its
catchment area in the fields of education, health, arts, and sports. It has
earned an integral part in the life of the village community.
V N K P S Library,
an 'A' grade library located at Valayanchirangara in the Kunnathunadu taluk of
Ernakulam district, has a successful history of 55 years to its credit. The
library is centrally placed amidst three Grama Panchayats – Rayamanagalam,
Vengola, and Mazhuvanoor. It has readership from all the three areas. The
library has a stock of about 20,000 books and subscribes 8 daily newspapers and
about 30 periodicals. The membership of the library is above 1000 of which about
one-third is of women. In addition, there are 300 child members too. The library
owns 15 cents of land, a three-storied permanent building of 2,500 sq. ft with
the facilities of reading room, conference hall, recreation club, and
children’s library.
Apart from the
conventional functions of library and reading room, V N K P S Library has been
performing the following activities:
(i) Mobile
library: As a part of the ‘Rural extension programme’ of the library, the
mobile book lending wing of the library covers around 200 families. The books
are supplied on weekly basis with the help of a woman librarian.
(ii)
Manuscript magazine: V N K P S Library has been publishing a monthly manuscript
magazine meant to encourage the budding talents of the locality and also update
the level of awareness of the readers about world events. The first manuscript
magazine Sahitee Lata was published as early as June 1945. The publication of the
Manuscript magazine was interrupted on occasions but has survived till now under
different names and under different editorial boards. Now the Manuscript is
being published in the name of Agneyam
(Blaze). This unique endeavor has been attracting generations of students and
novices in the field of language and literature, to the library. Publication of Agneyam
is published usually following a debate or discussion organized by the library.
(iii) Rural
extension programmes: V N K P S Library organises seminars, workshops, and
training programmes for households, farmers, students, and the general public
with the assistance of Co-operative Societies, Agricultural Universities,
Veterinary Hospitals, various government departments as well as agencies such as
Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) and Agency for Non-conventional Energy and
Rural Technology (ANERT). These programmes focus mainly on extension services on
farming techniques, fodder farming, cattle farming, smokeless chulas and gober
gas and other non-conventional energy sources. Classes are also conducted on
child and mother care and on immunisation.
(iv) Literary,
Arts, and Sports activities: V N K P S Library also organises literary and arts
programmes that include literary camps such as Kaviyarangu (poets’ ensemble), Kathakalari
(story writers’ workshop), debates, discussions, book reviews, literary
competitions (both for students as well as V N K S P Library readers) and
one-act play competitions. The sports division of the library, Olympics Sports
Club, provides facilities for sports and games including indoor games. It also
organises tournaments, athletic meets, and sports festivals.
(v) Medical
Camps: V N K P S Library organises medical camps every year on Allopathy,
Ayurveda, Homeopathy, and Nature Cure. It conducts blood-testing camps to make
the public aware of the importance of blood donation. It also conducts classes
and discussions on child and mother care, immunisation, and family planning.
(vi) The other
activities of the library include conduct of classes and seminars for students,
unemployed youth, panchayat functionaries, and housewives on recent
socio-economic and political developments. Regular career guidance programmes
and vocational training programmes for the unemployed are also conducted. The
library is running Ladies’ tailoring centre and a nursery school for the past
few years. V N K P S Library has instituted annual proficiency awards for
students in nearby educational institutions and also for the best adult and
young readers of the library.
V N K P S
Library has conducted a Readership Survey to assess the changing reading habits
particularly in the emerging scenario of audiovisual media. It has also
conducted Farmers' seminars together with soil testing camps with the help of
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Departments, FACT, Rubber Board etc. The
library has organised a seminar on Panchayat Raj to make people aware of the
importance of People’s Planning Programme (Janakeeyaasoothranam).
The library has organised several health awareness camps, literacy programmes,
literacy workshops, consumer awareness activities, etc.
The major
areas of action programmes conducted by the Library were (i) promotion of
readership of the library, (ii) education, (iii) health care, and (iv)
agriculture. The major types of activity consisted of seminars and workshops in
the case of readership promotion and education, medical camps, seminars and
awareness campaigns in the case of health care and seminars and group activities
in the case of agriculture.
Seminars on
themes such as ‘Role of rural library in local level development’ (held on
16 May 1998) and ‘Women and reading’ (held on 17 May 1998), a three-day
workshop (30 September-3 October 1999) for improvement of the reading habits of
children and another three-day workshop for children (18–20 October 1999) may
be mentioned among the important field-level acquainting them with the
fundamentals of law, science, language and literature, arts and legislation
activities conducted in relation to promotion of the reading habits and
educational interests of the population.
Workshops
organised with the active collaboration of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishat (KSSP)
for discussing new economic reforms at the level of elementary education (such
as DPEP) also come under this category. Another significant step taken was the
launching of a literacy programme in a colony inhabited by extremely poor and
socially backward communities.
For improving
the health status of the population and increasing the level of their health
status, various seminars were held on diverse topics such as environmental
pollution, water, atmospheric and sound pollution, blood donation, and
preventive and social medicine. Besides, eye care camps were conducted with the
co-operation of specialist hospitals. In these camps, eye problems were
identified and treatment given to large numbers of the local population with
several types of afflictions. Follow-up is maintained in the case of persons who
required prolonged medical attention.
It is in the
matter of agricultural promotion that the Library has taken some serious
field-level activities. Apart from conducting several seminars and workshops on
agricultural practices, costs of cultivation, problems of labour shortage and
profitability of farming with the active co-operation of the faculty of the
Agriculture University, scientists from Pineapple Research Centre and bank
officials; and farming farmer’s groups, the Library has launched a field
experiment to collect information on the economics of rice cultivation in the
area.
The
agricultural programme has two phases: the field experiment and the analysis of
the results of the experiment. Analysis of the various items of cost incurred in
rice cultivation and of the value of output is the major focus of the
experiment. Its main objective is to understand whether the reasons for decline
of rice cultivation in the area are economic or not. Rice used to be the most
widespread crop in the area till the 1980s. The rapid encroachment of the
cultivated area by tree crops and garden crops since then changed the face of
farm cultivation in the area. The surveys and interviews conducted by the
Library among rice farmers of the locality provided the background for the
present experiment. Information on cost of cultivation incurred on various
inputs such as seed, farm labour, fertilisers and pesticides was obtained from
12 rice farmers. Out of them, only five had reportedly earned some amount by way
of profits; the other seven incurred losses. Data had been collected on the size
of the farm, the major source of income of the household, the principal
occupation of the head of the household, the extent of crop damage, and other
problems faced by farmers.