Developing Libraries – Transforming Communities: A Case Study of Andaragasyaya Primary School Library in Sri Lanka

This paper provides how a rehabilitated school library in a tsunami affected village changed its community’s lives. Due to the Asian Tsunami of December 2004 an estimated 150,000 lives were lost, and more than a million individuals were displaced. Libraries were equally affected by this tragedy. There is no doubt that enabling readers to return to their libraries can help them, both psychologically and practically, to cope with uncertainty and get back to normality. With this as a primary motivation, the Sri Lanka Library Association (SLLA) took an initiative to rehabilitate few libraries in the southern and north-eastern regions of the country. Witnessing the devastation, the University of Missouri-St. Louis partnered with the Sri Lanka Library Association (SLLA) to develop a tangible long-term project to build a sustainable future for children and communities affected by the tsunami through the Andaragasyaya School Library. Whilst the commemoration of 10th anniversary of Asian tsunami falls in 2014, paper reports how the providing students with a range of educational experiences through library expanded their horizons and opened up new opportunities for their future lives. Further it reports the transformation of community’s perception about the school library as well as education.