“How do we revive the habit of reading?” is a phrase you often hear. But this question echoes an inherently false narrative—one that supposes the existence of a habit shared by everyone, when in fact this habit has historically, in India, been the exclusive purview of the powerful and privileged few. So let’s instead ask: Why have we never had, and continue not to have, a public library system that concerns itself with making knowledge and information resources—primary among them books and the internet—available to all, without exclusion? When we reframe our anxiety from being one about reading habits to one of reading access, there is another, more powerful word to consider: free.

When ‘free’ is prefixed to ‘public library’, it immediately redraws the lines of who deserves to have the right to read and the right to information. Doors and shelves are thrown open to all. It is by default, definition, and design anti-caste, gender and disability inclusive, and accessible to all regardless of their social or economic background.

This is not a new understanding of the public library. The earliest instance in modern India goes back to 1906 when Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the maharaja of Baroda, invited the American librarian W A Borden to help establish public libraries across his state to further his public education programme. Fast-forward to 1986, when the Chattopadhyay committee drafted the National Policy on Library and Information System, which linked access to equity. But little came of it in terms of reform. The draft was never ratified into policy.

In recent years, and especially during the COVID-19 lockdown, grassroots efforts have sprouted free libraries across the country, most notably where quality education and access to books has generationally been lacking. Even before the pandemic broke out, librarians in villages, urban working-class neighbourhoods, remote outposts, tribal settlements, and prisons began talking to one another, seeking resources on librarianship and library infrastructure. These conversations coalesced into the Free Libraries Network (FLN), which today has more than 200 library organisations, practitioners, and activists who drive the free library movement. We envision not just support for our own individual struggles in running community libraries but also a free public library system for all.

Read the full article about free public libraries by Purnima Rao at India Development Review.