By IANS,
Chandigarh : A helping hand from the administration in Chandigarh will now take library books and magazines right to the doorstep of senior citizens and the disabled.
The scheme was launched Tuesday on the occasion of World Literacy Day.
“The socially conscious Chandigarh administration has decided to take the library to the doorstep of such senior citizens who are fond of reading but cannot visit libraries due to the age factor or physical deformity,” Chandigarh’s director of higher education, Ajoy Sharma, the brain behind this unique scheme, said.
“All that they will have to do is to ring up a designated number (2701269) and convey what all they want to read,” he said.
“Such people require assistance and we are doing our best to reach out to them to ensure that they do not feel handicapped and their reading habit is sustained. If the aged and the disabled cannot come to the library, let the library go to them,” Sharma added.
The scheme has been conceived under the ‘community outreach programme’ of the city’s education department in collaboration with the National Service Scheme (NSS) cell and the Central State Library here.
Arrangements have been made to execute the scheme and deliver books and magazines at the houses of senior citizens and the disabled with the help of NSS volunteers.
Chandigarh has been divided into five zones – north, east, west, south and central. Every zone will have two coordinators and 12 NSS volunteers.
Librarians will approach the coordinator in their respective area who will assign the work to NSS volunteers. The delivery will be made thrice a week – on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday – for a 15-day period. The NSS volunteers will deliver and collect the books or magazines from homes of elderly and disabled people.
“Chandigarh has a Central State Library in Sector 17, a state library in Sector 34, three branch libraries at Mani Majra (suburb), village Badheri and one reading room at Burail model village. It also has a mobile library,” said Suraj P. Nagpal, state librarian.
“The total membership of these libraries is about 45,000. Of these, about 200 to 300 members are not able to visit the libraries due to one reason or the other.
“The involvement of NSS volunteers, numbering more than 12,000 in Chandigarh, would definitely inculcate a feeling of community service among them,” said NSS cell state liaison officer Bikram Rana.
The NSS volunteers will also be assigned the duty of enrolling new members in their respective areas. All formalities will be completed at their houses. Forms, complete in all respects, will be handed over to the state librarian who will enroll them and issue them identity cards, Rana added.