KOCHI:In a pioneering move, State Central Library, one of the oldest libraries in the country, has recognised the rights of visually challenged bibliophiles with starting a special 'braille wing' from Wednesday.
It is the first-of-its-kind facility in the state that ensures that the visually challenged readers can savour books designed for them. However, the dearth of staff plagues the 188-year-old library which may affect the functioning of the braille wing during its initial days.
According to library authorities, a room in the ground floor of the three-story new building has been converted into the wing.
There will be all modern amenities to make the visually impaired readers comfortable.
"All arrangements are done. However, stress would be given to audiobooks rather than braille books as the latter consumes more space," said state librarian P K Shobhana. The library has also joined hands with various outfits and organisations, including the Dehradun-based National Institute for Visually Handicapped and Kerala Blind Association, for the initiative.
Audiobooks
In the first phase, the library will keep 250 academic audiobooks. Kerala Blind Federation has also extended its support to the library for handing over more audiobooks. The new facility will also have 15 audio files of fiction stories written by prominent writers.
'Government's effort laudable'
Speaking to Express, Tiffany Brar, a visually challenged woman who works for the upliftment of visually-challenged in the state, lauded the efforts of the government in launching a section exclusively for visually-impaired. "It is a great initiative. But, the authorities should bring contemporary books both in English and Malayalam, besides academic textbooks. We really miss British Library. So the Central Library should also have the facilities of international standards," said Tiffany. She pointed out that she would extend all the assistance to the library in making more memberships in the braille wing.
Activity centre
An activity centre is also on the anvil so as to engage more visually challenged readers into various activities and programmes. Library authorities said they want to involve the readers more in educational activities, like competitive exam-oriented training. Audio presentations related to the contents of books will be initiated. In the second phase, the library authorities are also planning to install air-conditioners.
Staff shortage
Even as the library, popularly known as 'Trivandrum Public Library' boasts of its heritage, the staff pattern in the library is same as in 1971. According to authorities, the library is struggling with the shortage of staff. Though the authorities approached government with a proposal to increase the staff, they had put on hold citing fund crunch. The staff shortage may also affect the new braille wing as the library need staffs with expertise in dealing with braille books and audio files.
" We have acute staff shortage. We have informed this issue to the government recently. The government has handed over the proposal to the Finance Department, Hopefully, a positive action will be taken by the government soon", Shobhana added.
Reading Challenge
The library will also conduct a reading challenge for encouraging the people into reading. The programme will be held on all Saturdays. The library had created a special collection of around 500 books in Malayalam and English for the challenge. In the challenge, the participants have to read as many books from the collection, by the end of the year. Last year, the library had also successfully conducted the reading challenge.
Education Minister C Raveendranath will inaugurate the heritage model block of the library while V S Sivakumar MLA will inaugurate the braille wing on Wednesday.