|
The Shree Krishnan Hindu temple has stood in Marston Road, Wolverhampton since 1979. For many years the temple鈥檚 leaders have been planning to open a learning centre within the temple.
 | | Tirathram Bhardwaj |
Louise Walton, a Library Link Worker, with Wolverhampton City Council takes up the story: 鈥淥ver the past 18 months I鈥檝e been working here in the temple to turn their collection of books into a user friendly library for all of the community. 鈥淢r Bhardwaj, the organiser of the temple, went about devising ways and means of collecting books, many were donated. There were over 300 books donated by Wolverhampton Libraries to the temple. But obviously they were all in a bit of a higgledy piggledy state and they wanted some help with the cataloging and categorisation of the books, so that they could be accessed easily. 鈥淚 work for the Library Without Walls project, funded by ABCD (All Saints and Blakenhall Community Development regeneration project). So I鈥檓 based in and around this area and my line manager, Kal Dale, got together with Mr Bhardwaj and decided we could do something through our project."
 | | Louise Walton |
The books in the library have been categorised, colour coded, covered with plastic and they all have issue cards. Access to the internet is also available in the centre. 鈥淲e鈥檝e created a database as well, so every single item that鈥檚 in this library is on a electronic database, that people can use and search鈥 said Louise. 鈥淚n order for the library to be self sufficient once we鈥檝e gone, I also created an instruction manual. So if they have any new stock donated they can integrate that into their existing stock and keep the library going. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of religious texts, but it鈥檚 not just Hinduism its all sorts of different religions and faiths that we鈥檝e got in here. There are also novels, poetry books, children鈥檚 story books, history books, science, y鈥檏now there鈥檚 a bit of everything.鈥
 | | Shree Krishnan Mandir |
鈥淚t鈥檚 the first time I鈥檝e worked in a temple and I鈥檝e really enjoyed it. It鈥檚 been fantastic, I鈥檝e learnt so much and made some really nice friends. They鈥檝e been so welcoming, and I鈥檓 sorry to leave, in a way.鈥 KAL DALE The opening ceremony of Wolverhampton鈥檚 newest community library was part of the temple鈥檚 Diwali celebrations. Wolverhampton鈥檚 Mayor and the Leader of the City Council were among the dignitaries who attended. Kal Dale, Ethnic Services Manager for Wolverhampton Libraries: 鈥漈his library is important because we don鈥檛 have a bottomless pit of money in the public libraries service. As the Ethnic Services Manager I want to make sure that there is a diverse collection material available to the Asian communities in Wolverhampton.
 | | Kal Dale |
鈥淥ne of the ways that I thought that collection could be expanded was to work in partnership with this temple, so that we can utilise the collection they had and manage it in such a way that it become accessible to the wider community. 鈥淭his library is open to everybody regardless of religious background, ethnic background, age, gender 鈥 it鈥檚 a library for everybody. 鈥淭his library will be particularly useful for say university students studying religious studies and wanting to know more about Hinduism. An ideal place to come, where they鈥檝e got access to the priests who can talk about the Hindu religion in more detail. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a huge expense 鈥 it was expensive in library staff time but that was matched by funding in kind anyway. We had a lot of support from volunteers as well.
 | | W'ton's Mayor at the opening |
鈥淚鈥檓 not aware of an initiative like this taking place in the UK before. I want to be bold enough to say it is quite ground breaking. It鈥檚 the first temple based library which has been supported and developed by the public library service. 鈥淚鈥檓 really proud of it because for me this is a real example of what community cohesion is about, it鈥檚 about bringing people from different faiths to share in the achievements of a particular faith. The more we know about each other, the more we start to respect each other, the more the differences get put aside.鈥 TIRATHRAM BHARDWAJ After the opening ceremony, General Secretary of the temple, Mr Tirathram Bhardwaj, said: 鈥淔rom the very beginning I was thinking of making a place where people can study.
 | | Tirathram Bhardwaj |
鈥淲ithout the proper help, the proper librarians, we couldn鈥檛 do anything. It was all a mess beforehand, but you can now look and see how wonderfully well organised this library now is. 鈥淭he future is now very brilliant. People will come here, to this centre of learning and everybody will enjoy it. Every person who wants to investigate something, they can now use the computer, the internet and we鈥檝e got a big resource of various types of books also. 鈥淚t鈥檚 open to everybody. Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, whosoever wants to come, they鈥檙e all welcome here.鈥 OPENING TIMES The temple library鈥檚 opening times coincide with the temple鈥檚 opening hours which are from 8am to 12:30pm and then from 5pm to 8pm, every day of the week. For more information on Libraries Without Walls contact Louise Walton or Tina Campbell on Wolverhampton 01902 556826. | 
