Free sample essay on The Public Libraries. The concept of public libraries gained momentum with the introduction of schemes for making the literacy movement widespread. But the reforms and schemes for spreading literacy throughout India were brought about somewhat late. The British who ruled over us did not devote much attention to the aspect of spreading literacy among the people.
When India attained independence the public libraries were very limited in number. The funds for the establishment of public libraries which contain thousands of books on every subject conceivable had not been allotted. For, most urgent economic programmes were awaiting Government’s attention and education occupied only a secondary place in the government’s schemes. Big public libraries in Chennai of the magnitude of the Connemara Library came to be established in due course, and then there came a time when small libraries with a limited number of books and newspapers and magazines were set up in many places to cater to the reading public. If you take Chennai in each locality like George Town, Millipore, Triplicate, Ayanavaram, Pallavaram, Chromepet, Tambar am and other places there are small libraries. These libraries are of great help to people who cannot subscribe to newspapers and magazines and who cannot buy books. Slowly, as in other fields, notable progress was made in the field of education.
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The Connemara Public Library at Elmore, the Delaney Parana Public Library in Anna Salami, is the two big public libraries in Chennai city. Besides these there are the British Council Library and the USIS Library.
These libraries are vast storehouses of books. Books on literature, books of poems, books on art and novels are available in these libraries. You can borrow books by becoming a member of these libraries. You can go to these libraries and read books.
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There are different kinds of magazines and newspapers in these libraries. There are also reference book sections. We can get the assistance of the librarians in charge and get any reference book we want. The Connemara Public Library is the oldest library.
The Madras University Library is also one of the biggest libraries and it has lakhs of books. The academic staff and the students may borrow books from this library. For some subjects a college student need not buy books and he can study the subjects with the help of the books in the library.
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The British and the USIS Libraries have books written by foreign authors. There are many scholarly, informative magazines and foreign newspapers which are very useful to the visitors. There are facilities for viewing educational programmes on the TV screen. There are many reference books which give information about the facilities for education in the US and the UK. If you become a member of these libraries you can borrow books. You also get invitations for meetings addressed by foreign experts in various fields.