Dubai
Since childhood, I have had a habit of reading and my parents tell me that when I was two years old, instead of toys I used to ask for books, notes, pencils and pens. I have had a large collection of books ever since I could read and I get books as gifts on my birthdays from friends and relatives.
In November, 2013, I got a chance to meet A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former Indian president, during the Sharjah International Book Fair. After hearing him speak, I was motivated to create awareness about reading and began working towards starting my own community library. I dedicated most of my free time in the coming year to build this library.
In November, 2014, a year after I heard the speech, I started the ‘Share ‘N’ Care’ library for children in my neighbourhood of the Al Qusais area in Dubai. The library was inaugurated by my school’s supervisor and at that point it had more than 450 books and e-books.
I created a Facebook page and a website for the library, so as to make it easier for people to see what books I had. I also created a system of membership cards, which are issued to those who register and I constantly monitor the borrowing of books. At present, the library maintains a manual ledger for each member separately and I am working on converting it to digital. The process of bar-coding the books has started and it should be completed soon.
In addition to the circulation of books, I also organised various events to raise awareness amongst youngsters about certain days in the year, such as Children’s Day, UAE’s Flag Day or UAE’s National Day.
I also initiated the ‘Read Aloud Challenge’ to spread the joy of reading on December 29, 2014. Fifteen students from various schools in Dubai, Sharjah and even Muscat, Bahrain, accepted this challenge and made it successful. Some of the members and nonmembers jointly took the challenge for six continuous hours. By the end of the event, we were sure that we had spread awareness and the joy of reading among other students in the community. The videos of this challenge were posted online and I then encouraged members to participate in future events.
I also send informative emails to the members about various events, competitions and activities. Some of my friends donated books to my library. On seeing the wide range of collections, a few adults also joined as members. Additionally, I’ve started encouraging youngsters to donate their school books to share with the less fortunate. In this way, people can save money and we save books from getting thrown away.
I started off with five members and today my library has grown to 30 student members and four adult members, with more than 516 books and newspapers.
If anyone wishes to donate books, they can do so by contacting me through email at sharencarelibrary@yahoo.com. For more information on the library, people can visit the website, www.mnvivek2k14.wix.com/share-n-care-library or the library’s Facebook page.
— The reader is a student based in Dubai.
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