Undergraduates prefer textbooks over their library

As freshers in undergraduate colleges enter a whole new world, most of them are newcomers to the library experience also. In school, they relied mostly on their textbooks.

“In school, your knowledge is restricted to books and syllabus but college is a whole new world. You need to read a lot of new publications, journals, etc,” says Dr D B Singh, University Librarian and Head, Delhi University Library System (DULS).

And that is why various colleges have programmes on library orientation as well for the first-year students.

“After joining college, I realised there is so much to grasp and read. In school, the library was just a period where we spent 40 minutes in one week. Now I spent a fair share of my time in the library,” says Yash, a second-year student.

The DULS consists of more than 34 libraries which have a vast variety of books and electronic journals. Besides, each college under the university has its own library.
However, imbibing the ‘library culture’ does not come naturally to many students. According to Singh, 'serious’ library users only comprise about 10 per cent in the
first year.

“They come from an environment where all the focus is on marks. So at least in the first year the culture of studying through photocopied notes is prevalent and the library facilities are under utilised,” he says.

Manan, who is studying for BA (Hons) in Geography at Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, agrees with Singh.

“There are very few who visit the library. Some of us only go for the AC," he says.
Another library official, who did not wish to be identified, says that the low interest in libraries is due to the overall atmosphere of learning in most colleges. He says even teachers don't go to the libraries and tell students to study from notes of previous years.
Mostly, they don’t turn to libraries till they are into post-graduation or higher studies and have to research.

“In India, the concept of the library is very different. The teaching is mostly textbooks-oriented. And the students think they have no incentive to visit the library, and only study from one or two books,” says Singh.

He says this is in contrast to European countries which focus a lot on the library in education.

Singh, who has published 19 research papers on various subjects, has visited several countries and studied 19 libraries in the United Kingdom.

Another problem area is infrastructure. While in the main university campus and some elite colleges, the library is a place where students love to spend their time, in others, it is a neglected space.

“At any function it is said that the library is the brain of the institution. But the administration forgets that the brain receives the best blood. In the case of libraries it receives the worst blood which means that is the last priority in terms of infrastructure,” Singh adds.

Students who are keen to access the facility list problems like unavailability of contemporary books, inadequate lighting and stinking toilets. Some also face a tough time getting their books issued.

Vidushi Jhamb, a student of MA, Italian Studies, says, “During my graduation I had to find books related to grammar and other things but couldn't find many. Also, we were not issued books very easily. Some of the books came from Italy and were expensive so that the librarian used to ask us to study in the library only. But we were not interested in studying at the library and wanted to take the books home.”.

She adds that there even during her MA, she cannot find much of contemporary literature at the Pablo Neruda Library.

Many Masters and PhD students also point out the absence of a 24/7 library at Delhi University, unlike at other universities like Jawaharlal Nehru University JNU.  The Central Library in the Faculty of Arts is the only library which remains open till midnight.

“But that facility is only for PhD students. Others are allowed till 8 pm,” says Divi, a student of MA in Political Science. For girls, there is another problem: hostel timings which stop them from staying till late at the library.

Besides books, the Central Library is also home to approximately 66,000 e-journals, and electronic databases for students and research scholars.

“We are given an ID and password to log in and access these journals. But the trend of online reading is picking up slowly. Many students are still not aware and updated,”
says Rahul, a student of MA History.