ఆంధ్ర గ్రంథాలయం/సంపుటము 1/సంచిక 3-4/College Libraies

by పుణ్యమూర్తుల రాజశేఖరం

College Libraries

by

Punyamurti, B.A., B.Ed., Dip.Lib.

The present state of most of the College libraries in India is highly deplorable. There are no doubt a few well organized libraries in the country but the majority of them are far from being what libraries ought to be. They cannot be called libraries; they are mere store houses; nor do they deserve even that designation as they do not possess even enough store.

No classification and no cataloguing

Even granting that there is store, it is there as a confused mass; no proper classification is attempted and no cataloguing worth the name. If there is a catalogue, it is an inflexible printed book catalogue, giving meagre information and being always out of date.

No open access

To add to the confused state of the store, readers have no free access to the shelves. A reader has to apply for a book long before he wants it and wait for his chance. If the book is not to his liking, the reader has to wait till the next fixed hour of issue. The unanalyzed store is subject to further injustice of being located in a place seldom frequented and some out of the way dark ill ventilated room. Even that stingy room is more frequently closed than kept open. There are cases of libraries that have not lent books some times for weeks together. There are generally particular hours of a day or two per week allotted for issue and no more.

The colossal ignorance of the authorities concerned

The worst features obtaining at present are due to the colossal ignorance of the so called educated authorities and the staff they employ to minister to the needs of the readers. Many phases of the service rendered by the modern library service are not generally understood by the administrative officers and faculties. They are still obsessed with the false theory that any educated person is certain to satisfactorily fill a librarian's post in a college.

"Most of our colleges and universities have no doubt begun to include in their annual staff return a post under the dignified title of librarian. But the salary shown against the entry implies deplorable lack of appreciation of the need for a real librarian. In most of our degree colleges the so called librarian is usually a clerk and nothing more by training, temperament and status. He is not given any initiative nor is he capable of any. His time is largely spent in maintaining the files and carrying them now and then to the room occupied by the dignitary the professor in charge of the library to whom he is responsible and by dancing attendance on whom, he hopes to keep his place. His assistant is usually an attendant whose educational attainments are a little too good for a peon's post. There is none on the library staff who could link it up with the instructional force of the college, not to speak of following up the course of studies pursued by the College; none who look up material in advance in anticipation of future demand; none who could instruct the ordinary students in the use of the books of the library, not to speak of assisting the research students"

The need for reorganization

A college that is adequately discharging its responsibilities can never neglect its library which is the very heart of it. The present methods of instruction place relatively less dependence on the lecture and the text book and much more on the library, Emphasis is laid on work done and the assimilation of ideas gathered from many sources rather than upon memorizing the treatise of one author. This has greatly increased the responsibilities of the library.

Reorganization

To meet the present needs of the library clientele in a college library, the first step towards the path of progress is the change of head and heart on the part of the authorities concerned. Next should follow the required funds to reorganize the whole library and the appointment of sympathetic committee. The third is to have the clerk-librarian as clerk only and no longer a librarian. The library should be staffed with graduates specially trained for the purpose. They should be amply paid and have either the rank of a professor or of at least an assistant professor. Good organization, proper classification and useful cataloguing naturally follow qualified staff. Adequate funds being provided, a nice well ventilated suitably situated building has to be erected, providing comfortable seating arrangement for general readers and special rooms for research workers.

The result

Needless to say that, with qualified staff and adequate funds the required up-to-date books and book rarities and the various types of modern library service would result and benefit the colleges.

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