Presenting The Siddhartha School Library

The library is as finished as I could manage with the timeline, resources, and the business pace of India. I had the carpenter drag in the unfinished furniture so I could get a feel for what the room will eventually look like. The students who came in dropped their jaws in awe. At the last minute Uschi, from Germany, bought a new carpet that we had picked out and had it installed. The carpet pulled the whole room together. Morgan Reynolds Publisher donated about 30 biographies and the Maine contingency brought those and books I had purchased beforehand in the states. Then two generous women from

California each donated $100.00 so I was able to purchase many local books e.g. Birds and Mammals of Ladakh, Flowers of the Himalayas, Ladakhi history books, etc.

Many students made it a point to thank me for the wonderful new library – they are so excited about being able to sign books out to go home. Teachers are also signing out books that I selected for them specifically. Books are so expensive for the local population to purchase and there are no public libraries so the teachers are thrilled to have the benefit of a library right at work.

I will be designing a small children’s book and teacher’s manual on how to care for and handle books from the library. Also how to find books in the library using the Dewey Decimal System and specific classifications. Because of the lack of libraries in the Ladakhi culture books aren’t enough – it’s learning to use books and care for them. Without the knowledge of how to handle books the children will shred them in a matter of days. This is not out of a malicious nature but rather unfamiliarity and lack of education in these matters. The resources I develop will specifically be designed for Ladakh but can be retrofitted for other cultures as well.
Any of you retired librarians out there who would like to benefit third world & rural cultures to establish usable libraries please contact me. Or if you have Abridged Dewey Decimal System and Sears Subject Headings books that you would like to donate – it would help out in many libraries in the Ladakhi & Tibetan communities.