KANNUR: The Kerala Library Council is rolling out an ambitious initiative to foster reading habits among households. Building on its existing mobile library services, which primarily cater to women and the elderly, the council has now introduced a home delivery service for books.
Titled 'Vayanavasantham', the project will be implemented through 3,000 libraries across the state. With the tagline ‘A Book to the Home’, the initiative aims to encourage family reading and further cement Kerala’s reputation as a knowledge-driven society. Participating libraries, each with a collection of at least 3,000 books, will serve as distribution hubs. Households can subscribe to the service for a nominal monthly fee of `20.
“In today’s digital age, people have access to e-books, but busy lifestyles have made visits to libraries less frequent. Through Vayanavasantham, we aim to bring books directly to households,” said P K Vijayan, Secretary of the Kerala Library Council’s Kannur district branch. “The project will be implemented through A+, A, B, and C grade libraries. Librarians will visit homes with books six days a month, and a sub-committee will be formed in each library to oversee the programme.”
Kerala boasts a strong reading network, with an average of one library for every 3,000 people. The initiative seeks to expand readership in proportion to this infrastructure. “Our mission is to promote knowledge for social change. Instead of readers coming to books, books should go to readers,” Vijayan told TNIE.
Currently, 630 libraries in Kerala operate mobile library services. Under the Vayanavasantham project, the library council will deliver books to at least 100 homes once or twice a month.
In its initial phase, the programme aims to reach 3,00,000 households, with a long-term goal of expanding to one million homes over the next four years.
To ensure the smooth execution of the initiative, participating librarians will receive an additional Rs 600 per month.