Library Services for Social Inclusion in Multicultural Communities In Birbhum, West Bengal, India

The district of Birbhum in the state of West Bengal, India has a great diversity of cultures comprising of multilingual and multicultural communities including over 200,000 tribal people from about 10 tribes. Libraries in Birbhum have been providing services for helping in the social inclusion of the local multicultural population since 1925 with moving libraries. Since then the number of libraries have grown and library services have been extended to many more villages and enhanced to cover a broad spectrum with the major aims of promoting harmony and integration amongst the multicultural units in society, enabling the economic upliftment of all sections through education and also putting to use the wealth of their indigenous traditional knowledge. The effect of these programmes is overwhelming and results are encouraging. We also highlight the role of librarians in co-ordinating the similar efforts of other government and non-government organizations for synergy.