Bibliophiles are a tribe unto themselves. When persuaded to share their sentiments on reading, they will tell you very many stories — of finding a corner where they can curl up with a book, the noise around them notwithstanding; of how they are transported to another land, meeting strangers who become friends and the memories of which last several years.
The lending libraries, bookstores, virtual bookstores, book clubs (online and offline), ebook reader, Kindle and the literature festivals all give you that chance of having your nose buried in an engaging book.
Here, we focus on two city-based libraries which continue doing what they are best at — inviting readers to find a corner and browse through their books. Of course, they have tweaked their operations a bit to keep pace with the digital era.
A CENTURY OLD TRADITION
The Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir has been around for 170 years now. Located in the crowded Peth area of the city, the Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir is an oasis for book-lovers. Started by a group of social reformers to encourage people to learn and educate themselves, today it has 90,000 books in the form of novels, biographies, translations, short stories, religious and spiritual genre.
Arvind Ranade, secretary, Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir, says, “We have many books, which are now out of print. Many people who are involved in research work, or who are looking for references, visit us. Recently, we had a person who is researching on a variety of food ingredients, recipes and dishes prepared in the 19th century, making use of the library.”
Ranade believes that today’s youth do have an interest in reading. “It’s not correct to say that youngsters are not reading. We have people under 40 years of age coming to the library. We have five branches and a good number of young subscribers,” says he, adding, “Digitisation has changed the way people read, but it will not lessen the love for reading physical books. One also has to remember that all books are not available online. There are certain processes to be fulfilled before a book becomes available online. Therefore, many people find hard copies convenient.”
The books at Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir are not available online, but the library offers home delivery facilities to its members. “Every week, one person from the library goes to a member’s house with 40 books. They can choose whichever book they like and they can keep it for a fortnight. The membership charge is Rs 30. If you want to take books home, you can subscribe for Rs 120 per month for one book or Rs 150 for two books,” says he.
The library gives away books to other small-scale libraries if they have two copies of the same book. The library also has five other branches at Bibwewadi, Sinhagad Road, Karve Nagar, Warje and Kothrud.
“It’s imperative that we reach out to people instead of expecting them to visit us. Nowadays, no one has time to travel long distances to visit a library. But, people will definitely visit the library in their locality. That’s the reason we have 500 members associated with each branch. We need to have a practical approach,” adds Ranade.
ST READER SERVICE
The Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir is located at Belbaug Chowk, Laxmi Road, Budhwar Peth. It is open from Thursday – Tuesday, from 7.30 am to 9.30 pm
POSSESSED BY BOOKS
Established by a book-lover, J N Ponda, Phoenix Library is six decades old. Ponda started the library when he was 25 years old and it all began with the stories of tigers.
“When I was in school, my grandma used to tell me stories of the jungles and wild animals. Once I read Jim Corbett’s book on tigers. I read it but it wasn’t enough. I borrowed the remaining books from a library and read them all,” says Ponda, adding, “I am possessed by books.”
Ponda never studied in an English medium school. However, he picked up fluent English only by reading. “I got interested in Psychology and Philosophy, so later I started reading books on these subjects,” says he.
At the Phoenix Library situated on Kumthekar Road, you will find clippings of three types. “We have clippings or cuttings of book reviews, author’s bio or his photo. The second set of clippings includes stories of human interest and general information, not related to books. I realised that we are very careless when it comes to handling books. So we have pasted diagrams and pictures amongst the pages of the books directing the readers. This is our third set of clippings,” he adds.
These clippings have fetched Phoenix library a mention in Limca Book of Records — ‘Only Library with Clippings in Books’. The library stocks about 26,000 books under different sections — fiction, non-fiction, biographies, science, general knowledge, travel, wildlife, cooking and so on.
When asked how digitisation has impacted them, Ponda says, “The elderly people look forward to reading from physical copies while youngsters prefer Kindle. Yet there are a few groups of students who love physical copies. We also courier copies to the residents of Karad city and Mahabaleshwar who want to read.”
Unlike other libraries in the business, Phoenix is not planning to go online and is dependent completely on physical presence.
“To me, reading is like breathing. I can’t live without reading. I have a book on how reading trains and affects your brain. It is an extremely interesting book,” he adds.
ST READER SERVICE
Phoenix Library operates from Pratham Apartment, Kumthekar Road, Sadashiv Peth. It is open from Sunday to Thursday from 11 am to 1 pm and on Tuesday and Saturday from 6 to 8 pm
