IFLA hall of fame librarian gets state award for her work

In 2008, Dr Neeza Singh came up with the idea and started free workshops on personality development, theatre and art and craft for children, which allowed them and their parents to visit the library regularly.

Written by Bhavna Choudhary

Dr Neeza Singh, working as a Librarian at T.S. Central State Library, who introduced innovative programmes during the Covid pandemic to keep alive interest in reading, said she was thrilled to receive the State Award for her meritorious work for upliftment of libraries and librarianship in India on Independence Day.

She has been awarded for working for underprivileged children.

“We started several online programmes. Obviously, it was a challenging phase for us because library is a place where your physical presence matters. Although everything was new for us, we started conducting online competition and workshops for our registered members,” she said, talking about how she promoted reading during the pandemic.

She arranged tie up of libraries in different states, including the library association of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and introduced programmes such as storytelling, talks about favourite books, declamation, and interactions with authors.

Talking about the award, she said, “I still cannot get out of that wonderful feeling first for being nominated and then being awarded. I am grateful to my mother as she always supported me and that motivated me to never give up. I love this profession as it gives me the opportunity to serve society to every extent

In 2008, Dr Neeza Singh came up with the idea and started free workshops on personality development, theatre and art and craft for children, which allowed them and their parents to visit the library regularly. The outcome was so good that after one year, the entry was restricted and ever since there is no looking back.

“I am the only librarian of Chandigarh to have ever been elected to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and I am very proud of it,” she added.

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