Public Libraries, Children, and Literacy Development in West Bengal

This study aims to explore the initiatives which are taken by the public libraries in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal for the development of children education, recreation and relaxation. However, the scope of the present study is limited to the district of Murshidabad which has 21 libraries covering one district, three towns, two sub-divisionals and fifteen rural libraries. One of the investigators has personally visited these libraries and distributed the questionnaire among the staff of the libraries. The study reveals that in order to explore hidden talents of children, various cultural programmes and events such as poetry, drama, songs, mono-acting, painting competition, debates, theme-based extempore speeches, etc. are organized in each level of the library. Children, notably, participate in these events and receive certificates. Apart from these, district library and town/sub-divisional libraries organize career counseling programmes and students from all regions get benefited. Keywords: Information literacy, Murshidabad, public library, West Bengal, Recreation, UNESCO Cite this Article Mehtab Alam Ansari, Shamim Aktar Munshi. Public Libraries, Children, and Literacy Development in West Bengal. Journal of Advancements in Library Sciences. 2019; 6(3): 20–26p.