Chintan Girish Modi In most conceptions of school and places of organized learning, a library is central. In India, where many schools lack even a blackboard (or a teacher!), a library of any description is perhaps considered a luxury. Even in schools where libraries exist, they take many forms and are bound by rules and regulations that constrain use. This issue of Teacher Plus looks at just some of the many kinds of libraries that children, teachers, and communities have access to, in schools and out, fi xed and mobile, formal and informal, and considers ways in which we can extend the idea of the library and its many uses. My dream is to start a library for children. The shelves are over-flowing with books, and each time I pick up a new set, there is a struggle to make space for new friends that come from bookshops and discount sales, from pavements and publishing houses. I wish to create a space where children can fall in love with the magic of stories, wander off into exciting worlds, and begin their journey to learn about themselves and others. The urge to make this happen becomes more intense each time I hear about unimaginative attempts at encouraging reading. There is enough reason to believe that those who take it upon themselves to ‘instill the reading habit’ often end up doing much harm to the children whose cause they claim to espouse. Anmol Kapur is a Class 5 student of Delhi Public School in Hyderabad. He represents the classic case of a book lover who cannot read what he wants to because of adult notions about what is appropriate and what isn’t. He says, “In the school library, there are so many rules. They don’t allow you to read what you like. They tell you that you can’t read Hardy Boys before Class 5 because you won’t be able to understand it.” Grusha Prasad, a Class 8 student from Rosary Convent High School in Hyderabad, has a similar complaint. “The people in our school library are very protective about the books they give out. All the students get books based on the class they belong to. Sometimes, they limit it to Enid Blyton. It is just one room, and all the books are in a cupboard that we cannot touch without permission.” It is worth investigating why school libraries are the way they are, particularly the issue of not allowing kids free access. Shravya, a student of