Editorial: Reader's digest

CHENNAI: A conversation overheard in the newsroom involved two seasoned journalists arguing about the diminishing tribe of bibliophiles in the metro commute to work. The argument saw pitchforks being drawn at the mention of content creators behind ‘shorts’, as well as OTT players spoiling audiences for choice. When probed about how the scribes themselves passed time in the train, they quipped, ‘by binging on 3 Body Problem’ a new show on Netflix.

In the wake of World Book Day observed this week, it is pertinent to ask where have all the readers gone? Rephrase that to — where do all the readers go? Do public and lending libraries still hold their patrons in thrall, or are we witnessing the beginning of the end, vis-a-vis the art of reading? Let’s start at the root of the problem, the state of public libraries in India.

Per the Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Union Ministry of Culture, the number of public libraries in India is 46,746. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) argues that there should be at least one public library for every 3,000 people. At that ratio, for over 1.4 billion people, India needs at least 343,000 public libraries. Of course, beefing up the numbers alone isn’t the answer, as only a handful of the Indian public libraries make the cut in international standards.

The 2017 IFLA report sheds some light through its report titled the World’s Public Libraries: Key Trends and Statistics. It says that an average Indian public library houses just about 5,700 books as compared to a collection of 1,08,000 books in the developed world. Other analyses have corroborated the sorry state of affairs by revealing that only 12% of public libraries in the country are equipped with computers and only 8% have internet access. And a decade ago, only 10% of the 1.2 million librarians in India were deemed to be professionally qualified.

The 2011 National Census pegs the total number of libraries across the nation at 75,000, but credible agencies have estimated this number to be significantly higher at 146,000. Having said that, an RTI query in 2019 showcased how skewed the distribution of libraries was in the country. In Madhya Pradesh, there was just one public library for 17 lakh people, which is significantly lower than the national average of one library for every 30,000 people. Obviously, there are shortcomings here that need to be addressed by the respective state governments, and the Centre in toto.

A few states in India have taken it upon themselves to introduce new libraries as part of their Smart City projects. Here in Tamil Nadu, which has around 4,622 public libraries, the fifth highest pan-India, the addition of the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai has come as a shot in the arm for the process of inculcating a reading culture in the state. The Anna Centenary Library in Chennai recently started lending books, which encouraged a whole new group of readers to make landfall in its reading rooms.

On the citizen front, bibliophiles have begun congregating for silent reading by the lake in Chitlapakkam, while the more adventurous have ventured to the beach with Bessie Reads. Maybe, Chennai’s public parks could also play host to such communal reading sessions, like how it’s done in Bengaluru’s Cubbon Reads.