City book lovers not fond of MC Library

Gurvinder Singh

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Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 16

Despite the MC Library having quality furniture and cupboards, but thanks to the limited collection of books, most of which are old, the library has failed to attract readers.

Despite being located in the heart of the city at Guru Nanak Bhawan complex and adjoining District Administrative Complex, seeing hundreds of people visiting every day, a few people that too rarely visit the library. There are just 75 members of the library so far. Though the library has a seating capacity of 48 persons, just around 10 persons visit the library on a daily basis.

According to officials, there are around 12,000 books in the library, but visitors and those who have visited the library once or twice say that there are hardly any new books. “While the condition of many books is poor, several of them have been rebound. But these still are old books,” said one of the residents.

There are books which are relatively new and were bought from the National Book Trust days before the inauguration on September 1, last year. However, visitors complain of absence of new books by noted publishers.

“When you go to any library, there is a welcome display counter of new arrivals and the best sellers. But here, there are hardly any new books, leave aside such display counters,” one if the visitors said. No doubt, there are a number of newspapers and magazines, but no books, another visitor said.

No e-catalogue

Though it has been around more than 10 months since the inauguration of the library, but much to the dismay of the visitors, there isn’t even an e-catalogue of books. Just a list of books has been mentioned in a register.

Promises unkept

n When the library was inaugurated last year amid much fanfare, several promises were made. MC Commissioner GK Singh and Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria had said every year, there would be a budget of Rs 10 lakh for books and Rs 10 lakh for infrastructure development of the library. But nothing so far has been done to get for more books in the library or for additional infrastructure.

• It was also announced that the timings of the library would be extended and it would also be open on Sundays and gazetted holidays, so that students and people who are busy during work hours can use the library too. However, no such step has been taken.
• Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria had also said a lift or slider be built for the elderly as the library was on first floor, but nothing had been done about it.
• Though four computers were announced for providing access to e-books and online journals, but only two computers were kept. The municipal bodies have shown no interest in adding the other two or adding any e-books to these.
• There has also been a shortage of library staff, but no new recruitments have been done.

Visitorspeak

I don’t go to the library. In fact, I went there once, but there were hardly any books of my interest. I even took my relative along, and she looked for some new works of teenagers’ interest, but no such books were available there. So, I never went there again. New books should be regularly added to the library. — Amardeep Lall, chairperson, INIFD-Ludhiana

I just went to the library once. I am interested in books of general interest, which can be useful in life. But there were hardly any books and no new titles. There must be books for all kinds of readers and different subjects. — Vipan Kumar Sharma, a resident

There is a decent list of magazines and newspapers that also needs addition. However, there aren’t enough books on different and new subjects to interest the visitors. — Paramjit Kaur, a resident