Architecturally sound, MC library awaits more visitors

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 9

A triangular pattern of windows adorns the ornate architectural ceiling of Municipal Library at the Guru Nanak Bhawan.

The municipal library was set up in Ludhiana in 1878 at Mata Rani Chowk. It has since been shifted to Gill Road, then to Local Bus Stand, to MC Zone-A building for a short while, and then back to Gill Road.

It was shifted to its new and architecturally the best home so far, at the first floor of Guru Nanak Bhawan on September 1 last year only. The Mayor and MC Commissioner promised to make it a state-of-the-art library.

Conducive atmosphere

Branded cupboard and furniture, sufficient natural light from the ceiling, availability of computers for searching online information, gives members a conducive ambience for reading.

Membership

Residents can visit the library to read books, newspapers and magazines, but need membership to get books issued.

In the past four months, 125 regular members have joined the library. The annual membership fee has been revised to Rs 100 and the security fee is Rs 250.

Low footfall

Considering the location of the library, which is in the middle of the city, the footfall is relatively low, accentuating the lack of culture of reading and library in the city.

“Earlier there was an excuse on the part of visitors that ambience and infrastructure is not good, but now these problems have been addressed. Visitors are still low,” a senior member visiting the library said.

Most of the visitors are senior citizens. Chaman Lal, a staff member at the library said youngsters want to come and sit here, but they want to use it as a reading hall and want to bring their own books, instead of making the use of the library.

Need for improvement

Ever since the opening of the library,, cataloguing and categorisation of books has not been done. Staff members say they were working on creating a catalogue of books. An e-catalogue would be made only after that. There is no classification and categorisation of books. There is just one display board for magazines, because of which all magazines cannot be placed separately, and visitors looking for particular magazines cannot find these with ease. Only two computers have been placed in the library, against the announcement of four during the inauguration.

Gurmeet Singh, a member of the library for past 20 years, said most of the books were old and not enough new books have been purchased. “Even Punjabi magazines are not there in the library,” he said.