The joy of reading

To inculcate reading habit among all age groups, a unique mission involving 4,000 college students from 500 colleges of Tamil Nadu is set for a launch this Sunday

The idea is to create awareness on the importance of reading by putting in place a systematic and coordinated approach. “With gadgets dominating our lives, even the literates lack time or motivation to pick up a book and read. We have devised a strategy aimed at stimulating people to not just read casually or occasionally but also sustain the habit,” says T S Govarthanan, the founder of Readabit.in, the online library service. His project ARHAM (Awareness of Reading Habit Mission) will be launched in collaboration with the local chapter of the Madras Library Association (MLA) on February 2.

And what better way than to involve the youths in propagating the idea and drawing them as well into the reading habit. To begin with, the project planners are targetting 500 out of the 1500 Arts & Science colleges across Tamil Nadu from where First and Second Year students – who themselves nurture reading habits – will be identified with the help of their respective college librarians and placement officers. After an interview, a dozen students from each college will be hired as interns based on their communication and writing skills and will be given monthly assignments and targets,” says Govarthanan.

He says the interns will have the freedom to select institutions, clubs, locations, groups or individuals to address. “Their sole agenda will be to promote the need for reading and help the interested individuals or potential readers in identifying a library close to their place that caters to their subjects of interest,” he adds.

The interns will will be given a book every month to read and review. They will have a target of reaching out to 400 people every month and also ensure enrolling as many people possible to libraries either in their vicinity or the online libraries. How they convince people into reading will entirely depend on their own skills and ability.

“We will maintain record sheets of each intern’s progress and by the time they complete graduation, depending on their performance, they will be offered jobs with Readabit.in for a period of one to three years,” explains Govarthanan. He, however, clears that there will be no pressure or disturbance to the academic schedule of the selected students. They can make their own timetable and need not necessarily travel far but even choose the time and venue of their meetings nearby in their neighbourhood school’s parent-teachers meetings, their apartment association meetings, hospitals, colleges, malls, hotels, corporate and government offices, NGOs.

“The basic idea is to reach out to more people so that reading becomes a passionate movement,” says Govarthanan, who quit his job in a pharmaceutical company and launched Readabit.in in April 2018 as an online bookshelf that allows members to choose a book of their choice. The book is then delivered to their doorstep and also picked once the reader logs in to to inform that he or she has finished reading it. As of now, the online library has 2,300 members all over India who also put in their requests and the online library sources it for them if they do not have it in their collection of 15,000-plus titles.

Govarthanan says he tied up with the Madras Library Association for initiating ARHAM across Tamil Nadu because it has maximum number of college librarians as its members. If the project is a success in the State, we will take it to other States as well,” says Govarthanan and adds, even before the official launch, 72 students of Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College have already sent in their applications for the internship. “And that is a good beginning,” he smiles.

Project ARHAM will be launched on February 2 by Advocate Madras High Court, Madurai Bench, S Srinivasa Raghavan. Dr.K Nithyanandam, President, Madras Library Association-Tamil Nadu and Prof.R Rajagovindawamy, Director Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College will deliver special address on the occasion. The event venue is LAICO auditorium, near Aravind Eye Hospital, Gandhi Nagar. Time 10 am. For details call 9843253826 / 9952194020