Awakening books lying in sleeping mode in our libraries — Books never die

Globally, for centuries, our libraries have been preserving our culture and history besides serving the cause of promoting education and scientific research.

- BRIJ BHUSHAN GOYAL

Libraries provide equitable access to a vast array of information resources lying in books and periodicals kept there. Many literary giants, scientists, and scholars of yesteryears are products of their habit of regularly visiting a library for the old treasure as well as the contemporary books on each subject.

Individuals who may not have the financial means to purchase books themselves always depended upon public libraries for newer reading. In this information technology age, the libraries have also started transforming to digital databases of books and other resources. In many advanced countries, libraries have proved to be a best community hub place also where people gathered to connect for community events, workshops, and programs that promoted social interaction for better civic engagement.

Notwithstanding, the developing countries are yet to catch up with such interventions in library space.

We may be having a large number of public libraries; sadly, in India, we are many times far behind the international standards of their functioning, which are not reader-friendly. The utility of library resources to have access for research, study, and intellectual exploration has been brutally curtailed in our country due to apathy of governments and universities. To save these crumbling institutions of learning through books, no serious effort has been made though.

The rot has been further accentuated by the internet due to over-dependence of readers, particularly students and teachers on information tools and the glut of information in our hands, particularly by Artificial Intelligence (AI). This has baffled the general readers and researchers alike as they are not able to sieve much for the real crux of information with that authenticity with which a printed book or a periodical or a research paper in a library could provide at one place.