The Community Library Project

The Community Library Project is committed to the work of building the movement for a publicly owned, free library system that is accessible to all. TCLP has set up 3 libraries in Delhi NCR, catering to a membership of ~7000 children & adults, 7 days a week. We have also assisted several organizations in Delhi and beyond in creating free community libraries that welcome all. We are a member-organisation of Free Libraries Network FLN. We believe access cannot be built without reference to the history of excluding people from reading. It is important to critique the normalisation of the lack of libraries in India as a first step toward the argument for creation of a public library system. One of the central goals of The Community Library Project is to act as a lab for teaching and learning, a place where we discover, refine, and share ideas about how to successfully run community libraries in the diverse areas we work in. Though we always say we are ‘free and open to all,’ we understand that we reach only a few thousand of the millions of people in Delhi--to say nothing of India as a whole--who do not have access to excellent free community libraries. By ourselves, we won’t solve that problem. But by proving community libraries can work and work well, it is our hope that when the leaders of our city and our country finally do take up the task of funding and building libraries in serious way, no one will say, ‘It can’t be done here.’ Of course it can be done; we’re already doing it! We'd love to hear from you. Reach out to us to talk more and find out how you can join the free library movement!