It is a cliche to state that books are a person’s best friends. Libraries are emblematic of man’s faith in the advancement of the human intellect as a basic necessity to develop a conscientious and intellectually responsible society. But if we go to libraries today, we generally find that the attendance is not really encouraging. Does it mean that libraries are on their way out?
When you talk about civilization and culture, education becomes an absolute precondition. What culture are we talking about if the wisdom contained in the books handed down to us through a period of thousands of years is not respected? A library therefore stands for man’s attempts to preserve what has been left for him by his predecessors. A library has books on everything from everywhere. The library in even the smallest village with the most humble collection can take pride in trying to add to the refinement of the sense of culture in the residents.
We cannot think of culture in the absence of language and literature. Language is basically a cultural construct and so is any kind of literature, be it philosophical or scientific in nature. Whether we study the attempts by Newton and Einstein to improve the world in some form of scientific literature or share the enthralling flight of poetic imagination in Tagore, the content is expected to broaden our outlook and sharpen our minds leading to a more enlightened society.
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Most people today are, however, more interested in watching something on the silver screen or the TV. It is not that you cannot find movies rich in high thoughts or artistic appeal, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that the numbers are rather limited here. Moreover, reading has a more permanent impact even while it makes your imagination confront wider horizons of poetic and intellectual challenges. If you read Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and then watch it on screen, the point becomes more than obvious.
It is true that many libraries have shut down due to lack of patronage. People prefer to use the Internet to look for information. But then you risk straining your eyes or jeopardising your health. When you look for information in a book, you gather other facts as well while on the Internet you get only what you are searching for.
Moreover, libraries too have to evolve according to the changing needs of the times. For example, the high attendance at the British Council Library in Kolkata has a lot to do with the latest books and periodicals along with the availability of Internet and photocopying facilities right inside the library. It is time that the other traditional libraries too wake up to the demands of the market; otherwise there is the danger of their becoming extinct.