‘The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man’, said poet-essayist TS Eliot
Libraries are temples of knowledge, where innovative minds are created. Many reform movements across the globe have roots in libraries. Since the early 16th century India had a good number of libraries across the country. The Saraswathi Mahal library, started by Nayak Kings of Tanjavur as a Royal Library, was established in the 16th century and is considered as one of the oldest libraries not only in India but in of whole Asia. Encyclopaedia Britannica mentions this library as the "most remarkable library of India".
The beginning of the public library systems in India dates back as early as 1910. Sayaji Rao Gaekwad III, Maharaja of Baroda, pioneered the development of the Public Library System in India. It is mind-boggling to learn that even a century ago the Maharaja arranged the purchase of a photostat camera and a camera projector. He started Library Associations from Taluk level, organized ‘Mitra Mandal’ in town and village libraries, and organized regular library conferences. Mobile library service was organized to cater to the book need in remote villages.
Library as a movement was started in 1972 with the establishment of Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation (RRRLF) by the Ministry of Culture. The year 1972 was declared as International Book Year with the slogan, Books For All. The library movement led to the establishment of libraries in the nook and corner of the country, with the support of State Governments, the Union Territory Administrations, and various NGOs. Since then, we have established many public libraries and also in our universities and research institutions.
Libraries are the storehouses of knowledge where one would find information about everything in a single room. There was a time when our researchers roamed across various reputed libraries and spend months on literature surveys. For the poor students, it offered access to some of the costliest textbooks and journals. Before the advent of the internet researchers were hugely dependent on various abstracting services offered by libraries like CAB abstracts, for understanding the latest developments from their field of research. It was of course a tedious process.
Visiting the library is a part of the academic culture that helps students to socialize with their peers in an engaging manner. Many libraries also organize special sessions with academic and literary figures, that help in the development of students. So, libraries not only help in academic development but also in social development of human beings.
Many libraries of the old generation were housed in multi-storied buildings as they had a huge collection of books and periodicals. With the establishment of British Council libraries in different parts of the country, people have experienced a new reading experience in an ambient condition with welcoming staff members. The British council libraries operate within a minimum space with huge digital and electronic resources and the latest editions of books. They have a culture of withdrawing old editions from their stockto avoid unnecessary piling up of irrelevant publications. Of course, their membership is affordable only for the elite class.
One problem that is noticed in most libraries in the public sector is the unwelcoming attitude of library staff. Many staff members have anapathetic attitude towards their work. A good librarian is equivalent to an encyclopaedia, he should be able to guide people from diverse background in selection of resources, but unfortunately that quality is missing from many. In some libraries managed in our national research centres, even students are not given access to refer books. The access is given only to members from the host institute, even though its resources are underutilized. Our national institutes spend lakhs of rupees for buying books and periodicals. Is it right to restrict our youngsters from utilizing the resources funded by public money?
In this era, only people having genuine interest will step into a library. So, the government should make it a policy for free entry and utilization of resources in all libraries set up using public money, of course, lending of books can be restricted to members holding membership cards. In the era where we question the paywall procedure in scholarly journals, it is imperative that our libraries should be made places of free knowledge dissemination.
In the post-Covidera people’s interest in visiting libraries is diminishing. The new generation is more oriented to digital reading and the role of libraries as a knowledge provider is diminishing. Have libraries become obsolete in the new world order? Should we dismantle all our present-day libraries? These are the questions that often ring across society.
All these libraries are treasure houses that house rare collections. For example, the National Science Library (NSL) maintained by CSIR since 1963 is one of its kind in the country that specifically caters to the needs of science aspirants. The library houses over 2,51,000 printed collections of S&T documents which include monographs, bound volumes of journals, reports, theses/dissertations, standards, and patents, etc. The NSL’s collection policy is to build resources with an emphasis on high-end R&D reference sources, Indian S&T publications, foreign language dictionaries, library and information science, information & communication technology, computer science, conference proceedings, technical reports, and other sources relevant to S&T community of the country.
Many such libraries are spread across the country and we need to preserve our huge knowledge resources for the future. Some of the materials available in these libraries are rare masterpieces. Libraries speak about the culture that is prevailing in the society through its resources, books or newspapers, or periodicals published during the time, which in the long run will hold archival value also. If someone is interested in studying the evolution of printing technology, the best way is to go through the shelves in a good library. It would be inappropriate to dismantle our heritage that would be evident only through the publications of a particular period.
With changing times, of course, we need to build digital resources catering to the needs of the current community. The National Mission on Libraries (NML) was launched by the President of India on February 3, 2014. As part of this, the Ministry of Culture has decided to set up the National Virtual Library of India (NVLI) for putting information on the entire Indian cultural heritage in the digital web world. Similarly, during the Covid-19 lockdown, IIT Kharagpur has started a National Digital Library of India (NDLI) platform sponsored by the Ministry of Education, catering to the needs of the student community.
Digital formats have their share of disadvantages. Instead of dismantling the conventional libraries, they should be allowed to operate in a hybrid mode having digital virtual facilities alongside print based collection. The silent ambient atmosphere prevalent in our libraries is ideal for a person immersed in books. It also enhances creativity in human beings. It is the duty of every member associated with libraries in India to initiate steps to kindle reading habits among youngsters. Scientific research has shown that reading print books helps in the development of cognitive skills of children. We need children who are enlightened to lead our country in the future and one of the ways to attain enlightenment is through reading.
(The writer is a science communicator and columnist. The views expressed are personal.)