The age-old Satyabadi Pathagar at Gosaninuagaon in Brahmapur is in a shambles owing to the apathy of the State Government. This library which helped hundreds of local students, senior citizens, intellectuals to inculcate their reading habits is currently in a state of languish and unable to meet the information needs of its clientele.
Having lost faith on Government assistance, the villagers have now united and constituted a committee to revamp and revive this public library to fulfill the aspirations of the reader community.
While well-known retired teacher and social worker Trinath Maharana has been nominated by the villagers as the president of the committee, lecturer Sanat Panda is its secretary.
While speaking to the villagers at a meeting, Panda expressed his concern how an old library like this which preserves the cultural posterity of the State and the region is slowly declining in its growth even when the information and communication technology (ICT) has become a buzz word and part of everyone’s daily life. Even after the emergence of ICT, the traditional book form has not lost its intellectual essence and its utilitarian value cannot be ignored.
The ICT cannot be considered as a viable alternative to the traditional book, he added and praised the villagers’ efforts for restoration of the heritage library.
A large number of intellectuals and social workers now have volunteered to actively participate in this reconstruction and reorganisation work of the library. They include academician Pratap Chandra Das, Basanti Panigrahi, advocate Bijay Kumar Sahu, Pradeep Das, Pramod Panda, Bhagirathi Choudhury, Jagannath Choudhury, lakshman Choudhury, Prahallad Panigrahi and Prasant Patra, who have been nominated to the committee.
Meanwhile, former Vice-President of Indian library Association (IlA) Prof KC Panda has demanded opening of a publicllibrary-cum-reading room in each of the 40 wards of the Brahmapur Municipal Corporation (BMC) to inculcate reading habits among the denizens, particularly students and senior citizens.
Though the State Government has passed the Public library Act in 2002, it is yet to be implemented in its letter and spirit. Once library-cum- reading rooms start functioning in each ward, working women, housewives, senior citizens and students can get an opportunity to spend their leisure time in reading and writing so as to fulfill their information needs.
Besides, these public libraries can act as both reference and referral centres on a wide spectrum of queries and domains, he has pointed out.