News, updates and musings about the library, reading and the wider community from members, volunteers and staff
Hello, I am Vaani Dua, an architect by profession and a teacher by choice. I would like to share with you how I started a small library at my place for the kids in my community and how much is it giving back to me. I grew up in a middle class family where academics […]
Written by Ruchi Dhona Many, many years ago, there lived a princess. She had the most beautiful black hair that anyone had ever seen. When she let her hair loose, they would spread out like the branches of this banyan tree! Everyone praised her beautiful hair, but the princess longed for something else.. And thus […]
Finally, we have a time slot, a fixed time for interaction and story telling time with ladies from the community. Every first & third Wednesday from 11.30am to 12.30. Our first session revolved around introducing ourselves and sharing our aspirations & dreams. The highlight of the session was a story from one of the members, […]
March 10th, 2018, New Delhi. IIHS 'City Scripts' invited TCLP's Mridula Koshy and Goethe Insitut's Thomas Meyer to engage in a discussion on libraries & library movements. What does it mean to operate a community library that caters to first-generation readers? What kind of intellectual and social space can a library be for any community? […]
We packed somewhere close to 150 people into The Community Library Project - TCLP last night for the launch of New Delhi Love Songs—it was a tough census to take, because people were squeezed into so many places. It wasn’t your typical crowd. Yes, there were important members of our literary community—in this photo alone […]
In early 2015, after an email exchange with the coordinator at The Community Library Project - Deepalaya, I found myself attending a read-aloud session on a very pleasant Monday evening. I had stepped feebly into the classroom, unsure, but within minutes felt motivated enough to not leave without having heard the whole story of an […]
By Shoumi Dasgupta I first came across the Community Library Project through a social media post. I was interested and asked Purnima for more information. The first thing she told me was that becoming a volunteer requires a serious level of commitment. Although I was unsure how much time I could commit, I decided to […]
By Kitty Chevallier The English-Hindi Conversation Exchange project is one of the library’s newer undertakings. As the name suggests, the aim of the programme is to develop and encourage a two-way language learning process, in which all parties can improve their confidence and fluency in producing and understanding language – be that spoken English, or […]
मृदुला कोशी के इस इंटरव्यू में वह एक बात कह गयी जो मेरे ज़हन में बैठ गयी (8.20 मिन) : "हमारा देश इतना विशाल है, लेकिन अभी भी इसमे सैंकड़ो लोग हैं जो अपनी किताब, अपनी कहानी नहीं लिख रहे हैं." अगर हम पूछे कि वो सैंकड़ों किताबें कहाँ हैं और वह ताक़ सूनी क्यों […]
By Priyanka Sancheti When I first started volunteering at the Community Library in June last year, what struck me was how the library emphasised on telling stories through multiple mediums; books were of course the obvious and immediate points of access but there were so many other ways to encounter the fascinating of stories. I […]
