This issue of Torchlight: A Journal of Libraries and Bookish Love, explores the infrastructure- physical and emotional- that gives rise to school libraries, and what libraries can represent not just for educational spaces but also for a democracy. Between the conception and final publication of this issue, in a matter of months, the world around us has changed leaving our democracy transmogrified. The weeks leading up to this issue saw many acts of senseless violence including a library being attacked, tear-gassed and vandalised. However, these weeks have also seen libraries spontaneously spring up around us alongside roads, at bus stops and in bastis – we will read to resist.
For this issue, the definition of a “library” extends from the brick and mortar of the physical building, to the effects of a vibrant library on a school’s culture over time, to the many subversions of the institutional library that can coexist within a space, to the emotionally saturated memories of structured freedom in school libraries, to the boundless possibilities of reading off-curriculum. In this issue, we see libraries in many shapes and forms – as the core of a school’s pedagogical approach, as symbols of revolution, as spaces of censorship, as archives of hidden histories, as places to nap.
We shine the spotlight on Jane Sahi’s Story as a Weapon for Survival , a book review of Lloyd Jones’ book Master Pip. She takes us into the heart of the story drawing out important themes and conflicts relevant for our times reminding us that ‘stories’ are indeed timeless and have the power to help us survive even in the harshest of times. In The Open Library at CFL Usha Mukunda digs out a video clip from the archives that was lovingly created by a bunch of students from the school to talk about their library. Usha introduces the video by recollecting why and how this video came to be and the role that she as a school librarian played in the process.
In Chiaroscuro we have Exploring Partition in the Library, in which Sujata Noronha reflects on her experience of putting together a unit of study to explore partition and shares her highs and lows during the process of dialoguing with her students. She gives us a peek into how a library educator with purpose and intent can design learning experiences in creative and rigorous ways, leaving us to imagine and execute our very own units of study.
Timira Gupta’s Teachers as Readers and its Ripple Effects discusses how a library program slowly took root in a school by first turning its teachers into book lovers. She also reflects on ideas and initiatives that did not take wings and how a team of people persisted to make the library a space of vitality within the school.
Reinventing the School Library by Nirupama Kaushik, reflects on her journey as a librarian and describes her role in shaping the school library she leads using collaboration, choice and voice as guiding pillars to foster a safe space for children.
In the visual essay, On Making an Emotional Map of Our Library anchored by Karma Dolker, children from the Tibetan community ( exiled in India) from various schools, recreate their library through a colourful map that depicts the space as much as it does their emotional connection to it.
In From the Margins (this issue’s recurring feature On the Same Page), by Beena Choksi, delves into the abundant resources of the internet, and presents a curation of stories about libraries that have given voice, access and visibility to marginalised communities across different times and cultures.
In our audio segment School-wali Library, we hear the voices of children from a government school in Delhi, interviewed by Samina Mishra, sharing their feelings, experiences and desires around reading and their school library.
In क्रांति के लिए किताबें (Reading for Revolution), Neha Gupta details the interviews of the students and readers who came together to make the makeshift ‘Read for Revolution’ protest library outside Jamia Millia Islamia University a reality – in the context of the current protests that have swept the political and social landscape against the highly discriminatory CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), NRC (National Register of Citizens) and NPR (National Population Register).
In a Scholarly Readerly Problem Alia Sinha quietly reminds us how a library can mean different things to different people, including a space for resistance.
In ‘A Life-Story through Libraries‘, our poetry submission, Sayujya shares-through image and texture- how the memories of all the libraries she has frequented become intimately connected to her sense of self.
In Classrooms for Peace Anam Zakaria describes a virtual exchange program she ran for students from Indian and Pakistani schools to counter stories of hate and ‘othering’ that are commonly found in both countries and often promoted through single stories popularised by the school curriculum. Anam’s main tools too were stories outside the regular curriculum.
Finally, in Mad, Bad and Wicked: Censorship in School Libraries and its Subversion the Torchlight Team presents a crowd-sourced exploration of how wily readers through the years noticed, analysed and responded to censorship in their school libraries.
Whether you work with a school or a library or are just a lover of all things bookish, read on to find something that resonates with you in this issue.
Jennifer Thomas & Alia Sinha