Empowering India

In the dynamic arena of library advocacy, Purnima Rao, the current director of the Free Libraries Network FLN, draws inspiration from her transformative journey that began in 2015. Volunteering at The Community Library Project in Delhi revealed the profound role libraries play as spaces for social justice, equity and collective empowerment, especially for historically marginalized communities, particularly children and first generation readers.

As policymakers shape India’s future, Purnima joins other library activists in passionately demanding a rehaul of public libraries, which must serve as foundational pillars in any society’s intellectual, socio-politcal, creative and cultural life. Beyond repositories of books, she believes, libraries are integral spaces to deliver fundamental rights – access to reading, information and education. In light of the declining state of Indian public libraries, Purnima advocates for action to establish accessible & excellent free libraries for all.

Purnima highlights the pivotal role of developing a culture of reading and affirms the simple truth that all readers are thinkers and that everyone is a thinker. She believes that reading addresses an innate human hunger for freedom & empowerment by fostering connections through stories and ideas and that free libraries promote equity by being inclusive & diverse collective spaces.

During her time at The Community Library Project, she learned the importance of library curriculum which takes a critical view of historical barriers to reading, such as caste, class, gender and disability. In the last 9 years, she has been part of a passionate & driven team of librarians and educators that delivers daily reading programs, thinks deeply about member-engagement and community ownership and commits itself to the free library movement. Above all, TCLP has cemented her belief that all library work is rooted in social justice and that librarians do the work of delivering the right to read for all.

As a key figure at the Free Libraries Network, Purnima and FLN’s leadership team are committed to bringing over 200 libraries & practitioners from across India into a solidarity and peer-support collective that advocates for the right to read and free libraries for all. FLN empowers grassroots librarians & libraries by inviting them into workshops about reading pedagogies, library best practices, standards & guidelines to guarantee inclusivity & diversity in the library and more. FLN is an IFLA-recognised organisation, which is currently drafting a People’s National Library Policy (2024) that demands a free, inclusive, excellent & autonomous public library system in India.

Free Libraries Network’s vision extends beyond the library walls, encompassing collaboration with publishers to raise awareness about the vast majority of India’s readers that are underserved and scarcely catered to by bookmakers. Purnima joins other FLN leaders in calling on policymakers to support in realizing a vision of reading inclusivity across the nation, especially in communities with limited access to books or reading spaces. The Free Libraries Network emerges as a catalyst for positive change, urging policymakers to invest in a future where libraries become vehicles of empowerment, literacy, and social justice for all.