Reading is to the mind...

Dushyanthi Daniel

READING: UNESCO declared April 23 as the World Book and Copyright Day in the year 1996.

This day was selected as a world-wide tribute to books and authors since the English Playwright and Poet William Shakespeare, Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes and Peruvian author Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all passed this world away on this day in the year 1616 and it is the date of birth or death of many other authors like Maurice Druon and Manuel Vallejo.

April 23 is also Saint George's Day, which is celebrated in Catalonia in Spain, and on this day, a rose is traditionally given as a gift for each book sold.

"The twelfth World Book and Copyright Day, on April 23, 2007, provided a further opportunity for political decision-makers, economic operators and civil society stakeholders to pay tribute to that unique tool for expression, education and communication: the book" said Director General of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura, in his message on the occasion of this year's World Book and Copyright Day.

The World Book and Copyright Day aims at drawing the attention of government bodies and the public to the fact that books play an active role in the development of humanity.

The knowledge gained through books is the basis for education and critical thinking, though other sophisticated media have evolved for gaining knowledge and communicate effectively for human development. By celebrating this day worldwide, UNESCO urges its member countries and also other countries of the world to promote reading and publishing.

We need information in our day-to-day lives for our physical, educational, social and intellectual needs. Today we see information all around us and knowledge is on the increase. Every bit of information that is found around us may not be useful or accurate or appropriate for our information needs. Therefore, one needs to select appropriate information according to his information needs.

Special information handling skills have therefore become useful for information seekers. These skills include information searching skills, information retrieval skills and information re-packaging skills. Librarians are professionally the information providers of today and they are well trained to extend a helping hand to those genuine information seekers.

When finding information, one needs the basic tool, which is used to find information, which is reading. There are different styles in reading, namely skim reading, scan reading and detailed reading and special reading skills are involved in all these three styles.

Whatever the style of reading, books play a very significant role in reading and reading should be cultivated as a habit as any other good habit that enriches one's life.

When the reading habit is cultivated in a proper way, one can obtain the maximum information from the material he or she is reading, because he would know how to critically analyse the piece he is reading and he also will know how to comprehend and act on what he is reading and make it useful for his purposes.

The best period to inculcate the reading habit is infancy. An infant needs to be taught to sit properly, walk steadily and talk in its early years in life.

Like manner, reading and books too should be introduced to infants by using board books, picture books, audio and other non-books and very specially by spending time with them to relate stories, rhymes and poems to them and also to read-aloud to them.

This responsibility has to be borne by both parents of the infant solely. Statistics reveal that fathers read less than mothers and boys read less than girls. However, this is not a reason to escape for fathers to be excluded from their responsibility of introducing books and reading to their infants.

The reading habit development in children is a joint-responsibility of parents, guardians and teachers. Once sound foundation is laid by the parents and assisted by parents, guardians and teachers to nurture the habit as far as possible, children become real readers.

Definitely, parents and teachers playing role-model and setting an example by being good readers themselves will carry more weight than forcing children to read.

Though real readers would read whatever they find to read, but have the ability and skills to scan only what is beneficial to them, children should be directed to select good books to read initially.

There are special skills involved in selecting a book to read, which any parent or teacher who is a good reader would know to share it with the children and there are also librarians in libraries and teacher-librarians in schools who will help children to select fiction as well as non-fiction books.

Children should be taught that reading passively without learning anything is not beneficial in the long run. Though a certain amount of passive reading could be allowed, as it boosts their love for reading, they should be trained to get involved in active reading, which will help their minds to concentrate and will add to gain knowledge.

Automatically they start using a wider vocabulary and their writing styles too develop drastically. When they grow older, they know how to read for furthering their education, write their projects and succeed in many aspects in life. In today's life long learning concept, love for reading, if not developed, is definitely going to hinder the learning process of children.

Today there are a number of electronic sources including data bases, CDs, Internet and e-books for reading purposes and for information retrieval, however, the printed book has not lost its standing as the best companion to a reader, because of some of its unique features. Even to browse and read through the electronic reading material, reading habit development is very essential.

As Joseph Addison rightly says, "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body", reading makes you a healthy person enabling you to carry on in this world as an intellectually mature and sane person.

(The writer is Librarian and Head of the Library Development Division of the National Library and Documentation Services Board)