Public Library Campaign “Cholo Gronthagare Cholo, Dekhi Somvabonar Alo”
TLT, 26 August 2019
The British Council’s Libraries Unlimited Programme and the Department of Public Libraries have jointly initiated a year-long Public Library Campaign- “Cholo Gronthagare Cholo, Dekhi Somvabonar Alo” (Let’s visit the libraries to explore the possibilities) through a soft launch event earlier this year at the Sufia Kamal National Public Library in Dhaka.
So far, the campaign has taken place in three district government public libraries of Rangpur, Cox’s Bazar and Narayanganj. We have welcomed dynamic debaters, creative artists, fascinating storytellers, builders, youths from different communities, women, children and elderly people to the campaign.
Around 5000 direct participants have been engaged through a variety of competitions and discussion sessions. Around 2,70,000 more people were reached through pre and post-campaign activities. In collaboration with the Department of Public Libraries, the Libraries Unlimited Programme is going to implement this Public Library Campaign across twenty-five districts of Bangladesh. The campaign aims to promote the new services available in the Government Public Libraries of Bangladesh, such as learning to code with the Kano computer and micro:bit, building figures using toy bricks and ensuring proper utilisation of WiFi access and computer facilities.
The Public Library Campaign also aims to help define new roles and responsibilities of people around libraries, facilitating conversations on the role of the libraries in expediting community engagement. The private sectors are now reconsidering their role in supporting the public libraries and micro-entrepreneurs are discussing the role public libraries can play in supporting their ventures. Women, youth and children are finding themselves closer to their libraries than ever before.
An increase in the number of readers has already been reported in these three libraries after hosting the Public Library Campaigns. During the discussion sessions with the youths, it has been found that they were visiting the libraries for the first time through these campaigns, and among these youth over 60% were female.
The Libraries Unlimited is looking forward to the upcoming Public Library Campaigns in the rest of the districts.
Computer coding and programming is bringing more readers to the government public libraries of Bangladesh
TLT, 26 August 2019
As a part of ensuring free access to children to learn 21st-century skills and get creative with coding, the British Council Libraries Unlimited Programme is offering free coding classes in 64 government libraries of Bangladesh. With the inclusion of this, more children are now coming to the libraries. Young students in uniforms of the hilly Bandarban district of South-Eastern Bangladesh are seen leaving the District Govt. Public Library of Bandarban after just having learned computer programming and drawing pictures through coding for the first time. Mashwe Thui Chak, Librarian, District Government Public Library, Bandarban said “People who never came to libraries before are now getting familiar with the services of public libraries after they attended coding workshops.”
The Libraries Unlimited (LU), a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded project and implemented by the British Council, aims to modernise the public libraries of Bangladesh across all 64 districts and improve public access to information and knowledge.
Like the Bandarban workshop, LU has already engaged over 2000 children in coding through 20 workshops organised in between September 2018 to July 2019. The responses of these workshops have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
Sumaya, one of the participants at the Munshiganj Govt. Public Library workshop stated, “I really want to be a part of more workshops like this in future”. Era, another participant of one of the coding workshops in District Govt. Public Library, Cox’s bazar said, “Coding is something very new to me. I really loved it and I will visit the public library again.” The workshops have always been filled with children of different age groups, and a survey among the participants found that 99% said they would visit the library more often if activities like these were available.
These coding workshops helped to initiate relationship building between the librarians and the participants. One of the participants from Cox’s Bazar, Md Zubair who is a science student of 11 class in a local college, was introduced to the librarian of District Government Library of Cox’s Bazar, Mr Hrishikesh Paul by the British Council. There Zubair expressed his interest in volunteering for coding classes in the future with his friends. This motivated Mr Paul to initiate the formation of a coding club at the District Government Library in Cox’s Bazar. He stated, “Through this coding club we will be providing free coding classes to the members of this library twice in a week.” Within only a month, 20 new members registered for the club activities and library memberships.
Director-General of the Department of Public Libraries, Ms. Jahanara Pervin stated “The British Council is supporting us with computer and ITC skills and coding is a part of enhancing the creative learning among the children. I hope that coding will bring more people to libraries.”
Coding is one of the many initiatives being introduced by Libraries Unlimited to broaden the scope of services available in the public libraries of Bangladesh. It is expected that at least 1,75,000 unique library users will be benefitted from these devices by 2020. The British Council is determined to introduce more projects like this to increase the correlation between the UK and Bangladesh.
Four Library Professionals awarded ITEC scholarship in India
TLT, 22 August 2019
Ms. Tasnim Fatema, DGM, Bangladesh Bank Library, Mr. Rafiqur Rahman, Assistant Librarian, Rajshahi University Library, Mr. Nonigopal Roy, Assistant Librarian, Rajshahi University Library and one of the contributory editor of The Librarian Times (TLT) and Mr. Maruf Hossen, Senior Librarian, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission have been awarded ITEC Scholarship to attend two week-long Certificate Course on Total Solution for Integrated Library System & Institutional Repository at National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR) Chennai, India during 19-30 August 2019.
Dr. Md. Azizul Hakim Memorial Gold Medal launched at Dept. of ISLM, University of Dhaka
TLT, 22 August 2019
Another Gold Medal named “Dr Md. Azizul Hakim Memorial Gold Medal” has been established in the Department of Information Science and Library Management at the University of Dhaka. Ms Asuma Begum, wife of Late Dr Md. Azizul Hakim founded Dr Md. Azizul Hakim Memorial Gold Medal Trust Fund. On the occasion, a cheque handover ceremony was held on July 31, 2019, at 10:00 am at the Office of the Honorable Vice-Chancellor, University of Dhaka. A cheque worth BDT. 10 lac was handed over to Professor Dr Md. Kamal Uddin, Treasurer, the University of Dhaka with the presence of Honorable Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dr Md. Akhtaruzzaman. Professor Dr Abu Md. Delwar Hosain, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Md. Enamuzzaman, Registrar (Acting), Professor Dr Kazi Mostak Gausul Hoq, Chairman of the Department and family members of Dr Md. Azizul Hakim were present in the ceremony. Other faculty members of the Department were also present in the program.
Prof. Dr. Md. Shariful Islam attended in International Conference in India as valedictory speaker
TLT, 22 August 2019
Prof. Dr Md. Shariful Islam, Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Rajshahi, attended International conference on reshaping librarianship: Innovations and Transformation organised by Arignar Anna Central Library, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India on 16-17 August 2019 as a valedictory speaker.
Conference webpage: http://www.icrlit2019.com/
Year plan of National Book Centre held
TLT, 11 August 2019
National Book Centre, Ministry of Cultural Affairs organised a year plan event at Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah Auditorium on 31 July 2019. Dr Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, NDC, Secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs attended the event as the chief guest while Mr Farid Ahmed, President, Bangladesh Gyan O Sriginsil Prokashok Samity and Mr. Shyamol Pal, Vice President, Bangladesh Pustok Prokashok o Bikrata Samity were present as the special guests. The inaugural speech was given by Ms Suhita Sultana, Deputy Director, National Book Centre. Mr Minar Monsur, Director, National Book Centre conducted the session.
Bridging the Gap between Information Science, Information Retrieval and Data Science – 19th October 2019
Workshop on Bridging the Gap between Information Science, Information Retrieval and Data Science is going to be held on 19th October 2019 at Melbourne, Australia.
36th International Conference On Innovation, Practice and Research in The Use of Educational Technologies in Tertiary Education
36th International Conference On Innovation, Practice and Research in The Use of Educational Technologies in Tertiary Education is going to be held during 2-5 December 2019 at Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Details at: https://2019conference.ascilite.org/index.html
The 28th ICDE World Conference on Online Learning – 3-7 November 2019
The 28th ICDE World Conference on Online Learning taking place in Dublin is one of the largest and most prestigious international conferences in the area. The conference theme of “Transforming Lives and Societies” anchors the growth of new models of open, online and digital learning in a number of big questions and the wider context of the Sustainable Development Goals. It aims to explore many of the contemporary problems and opportunities facing today’s educators in the globally connected digital-era. The organising team in the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) at Dublin City University (DCU) promise a truly unique Irish experience along with an exciting and engaging conference programme. There will also be plenty of opportunities for delegates to mix socially and enjoy the sights and delights of Dublin.
Details at: https://wcol2019.ie/
Call for Proposals to Host the Open Education Global 2020 Conference is Open!
The Open Education Global Conference is the annual opportunity for researchers, practitioners, policy makers and educators to deeply explore open education and its impact on global education. Conference participants engage with thought leaders in open education and have the opportunity to share ideas, practices and discuss issues important to the future of education worldwide. The Open Education Global Conference is the largest global conference devoted to open education, attracting hundreds of participants from more than 45 countries around the world. The conference rotates to a different location each year. Hosting the Open Education Global Conference is a great way to raise awareness of open education and encourage its adoption and use in your country.
Please complete the Location Proposal and Projected Budget forms below and email them to conference@oeconsortium.org by 30th August 2019.
Details at:https://www.oeconsortium.org/events/oe-global-2020-conference-location-proposal/