On World Book Day, child labourers rally for the right to education near the statue of Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, at College Square. Picture by Amit Datta

A conference and an interactive session were organised at the National Library on Monday to celebrate World Book Day. The events promoted reading, publishing and protection of intellectual property rights.

The conference at Bhasha Bhavan started with an address by director of the library Shudhendu Mondol. He stated that April 23, the death anniversary of William Shakespeare (and believed to be his birth anniversary), is an appropriate date to observe World Book Day. The day is being observed since 1995.

Sukanta Chaudhuri, professor of English and director of School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University, pointed out the irony of the day coinciding with the death anniversary of Shakespeare, who though a literary genius, had never written a “book”.

He said out that many articles possess the physical characteristics of a book but are not actually so. For example, a railway timetable looks like a book, but The Iliad in its original form was not one.

Chaudhuri felt the traditional book would need to adapt to the realities of electronic books and digitisation.

Shubhadra Sen, former Khaira Professor of Indian Linguistics and Phonetics, Calcutta University, said many experiences associated with books are missing in reading digitised and electronic books. A foreword by an eminent author or even a typing error enriches the experience of reading in a way electronic books cannot even hope to replicate, Sen stated.

The programme ended with a vote of thanks by principal library and information officer, National Library, R. Ramachandran. “An objective of the programme was to help librarians serve readers better,” said the library director. “It was an enlightening experience,” said an audience member.