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Highlights from a Year of Library Work at Seraulim, South Goa |
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It’s been a year since the Seraulim library, Bookworm’s first in South Goa, opened its doors to the community! |
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It has been affirming for us to see how quickly children took to the library, claimed it as their own space, initially to play games, come together, and be themselves, and soon to also read, form relationships with books, and find themselves in stories. Many sessions held during the year brought joy and provided children with scaffolding to enter the world of reading for pleasure. Here are some highlights from the year. One of the highlights of the year was the Summer Library Rewards ceremony, to celebrate children and community members who actively engaged with the world of the library in various ways. |
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The awards appreciated users for the highest attendance since the opening of the library (Adit), most books recorded (Shivansh), being the strongest reader (Aniket), most regular girl participant (Divya), best stitcher (Prashant), best volunteer (Deetya), best parent supporter (Veena/Celine), most active book seeker (Xiyan), most cheerful child (Jaytesh and Divyansh), and for being the strongest chess player (Pradyuman) - chess being a library favourite game.
In June 2025, before schools reopened we held a pouch stitching session where children personalised and stitched their own pencil pouches for the new school year. |
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In July, our membership numbers shot up and we received very high footfall as children from nearby schools came to the library following a government circular that made library membership compulsory. 136 new members joined our children, and 262 books were borrowed in the quarter! The news of the new library spread far and wide. The pop-ups we held at schools also enabled new and diversified reach. |
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In August we began a collaboration with Rotary Club, Margao. Mrs. Fernanda Figueiro, a parent volunteer held a session at the library and sessions by Rotary Club have continued through the year. We were able to enroll new paid members and reach out to a new demographic through this collaboration. |
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Our collaborations extended, as we began working with the Communicare Trust in September, on a project in which children came together to write and publish a book of their own. |
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October was made special with the screening of Maa Dei, a documentary on the Mhadei river, and a conversation with Mr. Sebastiao Rodrigues, that saw the coming together of community members and children from different walks of life. |
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During the year, Bookworm friend and well wisher Ashok Hegde offered maths lessons to children in response to popular demand from parents, and our founder Sujata Noronha offered Reading Helpers sessions and English lessons, and parent volunteers, Ragini, Ago, Fernanda, Celine and Sarita, held sessions. |
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Pop-ups were held at the Holy Family School and three tuition centres. We also reached out to children at St. Jude’s School, Betalbatim as a part of the Seraulim outreach program. |
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We hosted a workshop for librarians and teachers of South Goa, Reading: A Foundation for Learning, at Holy Spirit School, Margao. |
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Children from Holy Spirit School and the Government Primary School, Seraulim also visited our library for an exposure visit, teachers and students commenting on how different the experience was from other libraries. |
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The Seraulim library team and the Home Based Library (HBL) team came together to facilitate an exposure visit for children from Carithas Centre for Deaf and Blind, and held a gathering for HBL parents based in South Goa at the library. Many parents now come to the library to collect their HBL playsets using it as an opportunity to spend time reading books in the space. |
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While there are still many miles to go, we are grateful for the trust that the children and community in and around Seraulim placed on us. |
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