Bansa Community Library

In this video we asked our members what they love most about their Free Community Library. From reading newspapers to studying for hours, or even just enjoying the toys, reading comics, everyone agrees—it's like a second home at Bansa Community Library!

Now that the weather is changing and the days are getting cooler, our outdoor read-alouds are back in action! At Bansa Library, we bring out our picture books, gather our members, and spend time reading stories together. There is laughter, curiosity, questions, and sometimes even little debates about what might happen next in a story. Picture books give children the opportunity to explore new places, meet different characters, imagine possibilities, and make sense of the world around them. For children from Bansa and nearby villages, these sessions are also an opportunity to experience books, stories, and ways of learning that they may not otherwise have access to. But access to books and the joy of reading should not depend on where a child is born or grows up. It is a right, not a privilege. In the absence of adequate public library infrastructure, countless children in rural India grow up without access to picture books, diverse reading materials, or spaces where they can read, imagine, and learn freely. Through Bansa Community Library and our work in nearby villages, some children are getting this opportunity. But they are only a few among millions. What about the children in villages that have no library, no collection of children's books, and no one to sit with them and read a story aloud? Our read-alouds are a small but meaningful reminder of what becomes possible when children have access to books and welcoming spaces to explore them. At the same time, they raise a much larger question: why should such opportunities depend on the presence of a community initiative when access to reading should be part of the public infrastructure available to every child? We need more free, accessible, community-owned public libraries, especially in rural areas, so that children everywhere can experience the pleasure of reading, discover new worlds, and grow up knowing that books belong to them, too. Every village deserves a library. Every child deserves access to books, stories, and the freedom to imagine. #RightToRead #FreeLibrariesForAll #FreeLibrariesMovement

There’s something special about a member picking up a newspaper and discovering what’s happening in the world beyond their own village. At Bansa Library, we want children to grow up with that curiosity. To read about things they haven’t seen, learn about people and places they haven’t met, ask questions, and make sense of the world around them. In rural areas, newspapers may not always be easily available at home. And when children get access to them from a young age, even a few minutes spent reading can introduce them to new ideas, new words, and new possibilities. That’s why we believe newspapers belong in libraries, too. Alongside storybooks, comics, and everything else children love to read. Because reading is not just about learning to read. It’s also about discovering how big the world is, and finding your place in it. #BansaCommunityLibrary #RightToRead #ReadingForAll #RuralLibraries

At Bansa Community Library, sometimes all it takes is a picture book, a circle of children, and someone willing to read a story aloud. Look at this circle. A book in the middle, children listening, smiling, reacting to the story, and sharing the moment with one another. For us, these are the little things that make a library come alive. Many of the children who walk into Bansa Library are first-generation readers. For some, books are still a relatively new part of everyday life. And that is why picture books and read-alouds matter so much. A child doesn’t have to know every letter or be a fluent reader to enjoy a story. They can look at the pictures, listen to the words, wonder what happens next, laugh at a character, or connect the story to something they have seen in their own lives. They can participate without worrying about whether they are reading correctly. And somewhere between listening, imagining, asking questions, and telling their own versions of the story, something begins to change. Books become less intimidating. Reading becomes less of a task and more of something to look forward to. At Bansa, we want children to experience books not just as something they have to read for school, but as something they can enjoy, question, explore, and make their own. That is also what we want our library to be: a space where you don’t have to arrive already knowing how to read, where you can learn from the person sitting next to you, and where there is always room to begin. Because a library isn’t just a place full of books. It is a place where children begin to find their place in the world of stories. And sometimes, that journey begins with simply sitting in a circle and listening. #BansaCommunityLibrary #ReadingTogether #PictureBooks #ReadAloud #FirstGenerationReaders #CommunityLibraries

A library isn't only a place for books. Sometimes it's a place for Pithoo too. On an evening in the outer compound of Bansa Library, the books were set aside for a while and a stack of colourful blocks and one small ball took over. There was aiming, running, laughing, arguing over the rules, and teamwork, all in one game. We often think of play as the opposite of learning, something children do when the "real work" is done. But childhood research shows the opposite. Play is how children learn to be in the world. Play also builds something harder to measure: a sense of freedom and belonging. For many children, especially girls, open space and free time to play are not guaranteed. Household work, safety concerns, and the expectation to "sit quietly" take that time away early. A compound where girls can run barefoot, shout, and take up space is not a small thing. It tells them that their joy matters. That's why at Bansa Library, we see play as part of what a library is for. A library should be a space where children feel safe, free, and joyful. When children feel that a place belongs to them, they come back. They pick up a book, ask a question, and tell a story. Love for reading grows from that sense of belonging. Stories, questions, friendships, and play all have a place here. #BansaLibrary #CommunityLibrary #LibraryAsAPlaceOfPlay #RightToPlay #PlayIsLearning #ChildhoodMatters #LetGirlsPlay #Pithoo #Lagori #TraditionalGames #ReadingCommunities #BachpanManao

A library doesn’t always look like rows of shelves and quiet reading rooms. Sometimes, it looks like this, a few old desks, notebooks spread across the tables, children helping each other, and a librarian sitting right beside them. At Bansa Community Library, our librarians are much more than people who issue and return books. They help children find the right book, sit with them when they are stuck, answer questions, encourage them to try again, and create a space where everyone feels comfortable learning at their own pace. Because a community library is not only about access to books. It is also about the people who make learning feel possible. #BansaCommunityLibrary #CommunityLibrary #RightToRead #LibrariesForAll #LearningTogether #LibraryLife #Bansa #Hardoi

At Bansa Community Library, we believe reading doesn’t stop at the last page. A book can make you laugh, leave you with questions, remind you of something you’ve experienced, or simply make you look at the world a little differently. So once our members finish reading, we invite them to pause and think about what the book meant to them. Through these book reports, they are putting those thoughts into their own words, sharing what they liked, what they questioned, which characters stayed with them, and what they took away from the story. For us, it is not about writing the perfect book report. It is about helping children members realise that their thoughts about what they read matter too. Because reading is not just about finishing more books. It is also about having something to say after you’ve read them. #BookReports #Reading #RightToRead #FreeLibrary

Somewhere between the books, the conversations, the homework and the quiet moments of reading, a library becomes something more. It becomes a place that feels like yours. At Bansa Community Library, children don’t just come to read books. They come to learn, to discover, to spend time with friends, to ask questions, and to imagine what could be possible. This is what a community library can look like, open, welcoming and rooted in the everyday lives of its community. Because access to a library should never be a privilege. It should be a right. #BansaCommunityLibrary #CommunityLibraries #RightToRead #LibrariesForAll #ReadingForAll

What happens when a child in Bansa wants to learn something that isn’t available around them? At Bansa Library, we try not to let the answer be, “You can’t, because there’s no one here to teach you.” Recently, a group of our young members came together for an art session led by one of our volunteer teachers based in Bihar. Through a digital connection, they were able to learn, create, ask questions and spend time exploring art together. The teacher was in Bihar. The children were in Bansa. And yet, for that hour, distance hardly mattered. This is one of the things we love about the idea of a community library. It can connect a village to people, ideas, skills and experiences that may otherwise remain out of reach. A child may come to the library looking for a book, but end up discovering art. Another may want to learn computers. Someone may be curious about a language, a craft, a story, a science experiment or simply something they have never encountered before. We don't believe a library should decide that some interests are more worthy of space than others. There is also a deeper principle behind this. Access to knowledge, information, learning and culture should be treated as a right, not as a privilege available only to children who happen to live in cities or come from families who can afford additional opportunities. A rights-based approach means asking a simple question: What does a learner need to explore their potential, and how can we help make that access possible? Sometimes the answer is a book. Sometimes it is a computer. Sometimes it is a quiet corner. And sometimes, it is a teacher sitting hundreds of kilometres away, willing to spend an hour drawing and learning with a group of children. The library may be located in Bansa, but the learning it enables does not have to be limited by Bansa's geography. That, to us, is what a community library should be, a space where curiosity is welcomed, access is expanded, and a child's imagination is never told that something is “not for them.” #RightToRead #CommunityLibrary #BansaLibrary

Excited to share: Books, Walks & Frames with Mumbai Paused We're teaming up for a special walking tour through Mumbai's Fort area with Gopal M.S. (@SloganMurugan), the man who's spent years chronicling the city's streets, signage, and hidden corners. Every rupee from tickets goes straight to us at Bansa Community Library to help us get books into more hands. 📅 Sun, Sept 20, 2026 | 4pm 📍 Hutatma Chowk, Fort If you're in Bombay, come walk with us. Register now- docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…

A library is more than shelves of books. At Bansa Community Library, we see the library as a space where learning begins, and where every learner gets the opportunity to build, explore and grow. Alongside reading, our work focuses on foundational literacy and numeracy, early learning, language development, activity-based learning and building the confidence of children who may be first-generation learners. From helping a child recognise letters and numbers to discovering their first favourite book, from play and storytelling to quiet study, the library meets learners where they are. Because a community library should not simply provide access to books. It should create access to learning. #BansaCommunityLibrary #CommunityLibraries #FoundationalLiteracy #FoundationalLearning #Numeracy #ReadingForAll #LibrariesForAll #RuralEducation

This is what a library can do for a village. Look closely at these six girls at Bansa Community Library. They’re sitting on the floor, completely absorbed in the books they picked for themselves. One is reading quietly. Another is turning pages with a friend. Someone is probably looking for what to read next. Nothing extraordinary is happening. And yet, for us, this is the whole point of the library. A few years ago, a space like this simply did not exist in Bansa. If a child wanted to read beyond her textbooks, there were very few places to go. Today, she can walk into the library, browse the shelves, pick a book, find a corner, and stay as long as she wants. No permission to be curious. No fee to enter. No one deciding which books she should read. Just a library that belongs to the community. Over the years, we have watched children come in hesitant and slowly make the library their own. We have seen children discover books they never knew existed, make friends over stories, return for the same books again and again, and begin asking for books that aren't on our shelves yet. This is what we believe a rural library can be. Not just a room full of books, but a place where children can spend time, discover themselves, imagine different lives, and simply be children. Because every village deserves a place where its children can read, dream and belong. #BansaLibrary #JoyOfReading #RuralLibraries #LibrariesForAll #RightToRead #CommunityLibrary #ReadingIsARight