The success story of a village library!

THODUPUZHA: When the Ponnanthanam village library explored a new scheme to attract more readers to its shelves, it was indeed appeared to be a sincere effort to develop reading habit among the villagers.The initiative - home delivery of books at the door steps of its members - has been received with open arms by them, and now, the library has got a shot in the arm as it was adjudged the district’s best library for the year 2011-12. “As people are busy and there are many other ways to pass the time, it is very difficult to draw them to the libraries,” said Mathachan Purakkal, president of the library. “Fortunately, we have volunteers who are willing to go to every nook and cranny of the village to distribute books,” he said. Though the scheme was launched a few years back,it was not a big success then.“Later, we reintroduced it and now it is on the right track,” he said. “The library is also exploring new avenues to make reading more attractive and informative,” he said. The library has a women’s forum, children’s wing, youth wing, senior citizen forum and a arts and sports club. Study tours, seminars and camps were also conducted on a regular basis, he said. “The national days are also observed to create awareness among the people about their duties and responsibilities,” he said.