The Primer for a Rural Community Library is a comprehensive, practice-rooted guide for individuals, collectives, and organizations seeking to establish and sustain free, community-owned libraries in rural India. Grounded in lived experience from the field, the primer positions libraries not merely as repositories of books, but as democratic, inclusive, and transformative public spaces that uphold the Right to Read.
Designed with rural realities in mind, the primer walks readers through the full lifecycle of a community library—from visioning and community needs assessment to legal formalities, space identification, and infrastructure design. It emphasizes participatory planning, community ownership, and contextual sensitivity, ensuring that libraries respond meaningfully to local aspirations, learning gaps, and social conditions.
The operational sections detail practical guidance on book and resource curation, team recruitment and training, programming, budgeting, fundraising, and long-term sustainability. Particular attention is given to libraries as hubs for formal, non-formal, and informal learning, as well as platforms for socio-legal awareness, civic engagement, and lifelong learning. The primer also outlines monitoring and evaluation frameworks to help practitioners document impact, strengthen accountability, and communicate value to supporters and funders.
Written for grassroots practitioners, educators, social entrepreneurs, panchayat leaders, and civil society actors, this primer serves both as a step-by-step manual and a values-driven manifesto—arguing that equitable access to knowledge is foundational to social justice, democratic participation, and educational transformation in rural India.
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