Chennai, Febrruary 28, 2017: MSSRF and the Indian Public Library Movement (IPLM) in association with NASSCOM Foundation, signed an MoU today. This partnership aims to strengthen public libraries across India as knowledge and learning centres.

Mr. Srikanth Sinha, Chief Executive Officer, NASSCOM Foundation, said “There is need for libraries to be knowledge hubs and provide need-based information to specific communities”. He spoke about the need for collaboration between partner institutions, to make the initiatives more effective.

Dr. S. Kannappan, Director of School Education, Government of Tamil Nadu said “Many innovative services are being implemented in Tamil Nadu libraries such as special facilities for disabled children”. However, he emphasized on the need for libraries to empower the rural communities as well as librarians in rural areas.

Prof M S Swaminathan, Founder MSSRF, said libraries were a very important aspect of learning, beyond just being a space for books. “The nerve centre of any institution is the library” he said, emphasizing that inclusive quality education for lifelong learning, and building momentum in support of knowledge revolution was needed. “Low cost technologies can make a difference in harnessing knowledge”, he said pointing out the significance of this programme being held on National Science Day.

Ms. Shubhangi Sharma, Executive Director, IPLM also spoke about collaborating, for creating a movement. Dr V Selvam, Executive Director, MSSRF, recalled how an entire generation of children had grown up and moulded by public libraries and how it had played an important role for acquiring knowledge for many in his generation.

Ms. Nancy J Anabel, Director IEC, MSSRF, gave details of the IPLM initiative, highlighting the ‘hub and spokes’ model of MSSRF to be integrated in 50 libraries across 23 states.

On this occasion, a new mobile service the Mobile Information for Community Empowerment or m-ICE application was launched for Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. In the changing context of technology era, the “Namma ooru seithi” or the ommunity news paper initiated by MSSRF in 1998 to transform communities has been strengthened through mobile based platforms.

(In the Pic: Signing of the MoU with IPLM and NASSCOM Foundation; Prof Swaminathan with librarians from across Chennai)