Public libraries gathering dust Even as another Library Day was observed on Monday, the deplorable library infrastructure and treatment of librarians came to the fore. Here the celebrations were as low-key as the humble librarians who surrounded themselves in solitude among hundreds of dust-covered books. “It is a very important department, but highly neglected,” said Vaman K., a retired librarian and one of the nine members of the Mangalore City Library Authority, which had not held a meeting this year. “The excuse now is that the Mayor, who heads the meetings, hasn’t been appointed. Usually, the mayor calls just one or two meetings in a year. Problems of libraries are not properly addressed,” he said. Among the problems was the intermittent funding granted by urban local bodies, and the vacancies – nearly 50 per cent of the posts are unfilled – in the department. “They spend money on books, but do not treat the staff well,” said Mr. Vaman. The vacancies are filled by under-paid temporary staff. Even after working for two years in the ramshackle Kudroli library, P.K. Gauramma is paid Rs. 2,500 monthly, while the sweeper there gets Rs. 1,000. “We work from 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. It is almost impossible to manage with the salary offered,” she said. The Kudroli library is symbolic of the neglect of the department. The single-roomed structure is devoid of a toilet or drinking water, is unable to keep out the jarring noise of traffic from the main road, and the lack of space allows for limited books and papers. It is no wonder that the library barely gets more than one new membership in a month. Similarly, libraries in Hoige Bazaar, Hosabettu, Valencia children’s library, Kulai, and Kannur are in dire need of expansion, while the now-defunct mobile library is in need of a new bus. Another jolt is the possible move of the Government Library Training Centre (LTC), which offers a four-month certification course in Library sciences. The centre was established in Valencia in 2007 after its original building in Mysore was deemed inadequate. Since then, it has trained over 640 students, including Ms. Gauramma, in eight batches. With a new building ready in Mysore, Mr. Vaman fears the centre will be shifted back there. “People from the coast, Kodagu, and Chikmagalur come here for training; and such courses are needed for the running of the department,” he said. Deputy Director of Mangalore City Central Library Raghavendra K.V. said there was no official order about closing down of the LTC here. “We have started the admission process for the next batch, and once the process is done on August 14, the new batch will start. When Mysore starts the courses there, we will ask the government for approval to run a centre here,” he said. Library Day ‘Library Day’ is observed in India on August 12, in memory of S.R. Ranganathan, who is considered to be the father of library science in the country. Even now, in the libraries across the country, his five laws of library science are displayed: Books are for use, and not just for display; variety in libraries should ensure that every reader gets his or her book; and, every book should get its reader, by effective display and advertising; save time for the reader through effective library management – that is, cross-referencing, cataloging, circulation of materials, etc.; library is a growing organism, and growth should inculcate growth in staff, collection, shelving and space. thehindu/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/public-libraries-gathering-dust/article5014550.ece
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 07:36:18 +0000
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