Chaitali Shome,OP
Bhubaneswar: Books are a man’s best friend. Nowadays students depend on libraries to study, complete assignments and to refer material.
Orissa Post interacted with librarians, students and technical officers to know why in a time of such high demand the city’s libraries are facing desperate times.
Ashok Kumar Patra, a library attendant at the Parija Library of Utkal University feels that lack of initiatives by the authorities has been the main reason for the hard times.
The Parija Library has around three lakh books which are completely preserved using old methods.
He said, “No one is bothered about the problems of this library. From 2014 many research books are not being digitized. Only 70 per cent of the books are digitized. One can see at least 500-600 people every day at this library. Sometimes the library is jam packed and one can hardly find a place to study. However, the worst problem is that there is staff shortage. Currently there are only 11 staffers while it was 60 in 1990. There is no library chest and the walls of the library are soaked with water due to the rains.”
Utkal University VC Soumendra Mohan Patnaik denied the allegations and said the Parija library is one of the best.
Nihar Ranjan Parida, a second year student of computer science, said that the situation is pretty worse as there are only 10 computers through which one can work and at times the library is so jam packed that one can hardly enter it. A new place needs to be constructed for the library, he said.
Prabhat Boinga, an M.Com second year student, said the library has many books, but preservation of the books is hopeless. Many books have no covers and volumes are not stacked in a scientific manner. Heavy rain and seeping water has destroyed many books and officials are hiding this fact, he added.
Sarathi Besra, a political science first year student, however, differs and feels that Parija Library is a fine place. But there are severe management issues here, he said.
Chief Librarian Pranati Gadanayak discussed all issues many times with the VC, but no action was taken. Even Registar Dayanidhi Nayak hardly helps. The library was located in Burdhamankothi at Cuttack in 1943 where Utkal University was based. In 1960 this Vanivihar building was built and the library was shifted there.
The same situation is faced by the Harekrushna Mahtab Library where everyday at least 800 students come to study. However, lack of space and the huge decrease in buying new books have severely affected this amazing three storey library.
Assistant Librarian Gangadhar Kar asked that when books are available and when writing notes is still prevalent why are we failing to buy books. He said that many people looking after the library were not properly trained.
Junior Library Assistant Sanghamitra Sahoo said initially at least seven lakh books were purchased for this gigantic library, but now it’s hardly 50,000 and that was gifted by the Raja Rammohan Roy Library of Kolkota. Local buying is just a few hundreds, he said.
Mamta Pathi, who prepares for competitive exams said, “I have to book my seat from 8 am to 8 pm. If I don’t come early then non-students who have no idea of books will come and occupy the space.
Sima Rath, a third year student of Maharshi College, also feels that the condition of the state library is horrible. Students don’t find a seat and they have to find a place near garbage.
Another library that is very popular among youth is the Soochana Bhawan Library where newspapers, magazines as well as academic and reference books are available. The footfall at this library is 500 everyday. However, facilities are very poor.
A new building has been constructed, but it has not been inaugurated. So students come and study on the veranda.
The most shocking thing is that the municipality library in Bapujinagar is going to be demolished and a community hall built. This brings out the sorry state of libraries in the city.