Public libraries in Bengaluru: Where is their story going?

Suresh, an accounting professional working in Malleshwaram, visits the City Central Library on Sampige Road after work at least once a week to read magazines and catch up with the news. He spends about an hour before heading home to Yeshwanthpur.

“The library has English and Kannada magazines and all newspapers. I like the ambience where we can sit calmly and read,” he says.

He does not have any membership. He walks in every time, takes what he wants, reads, and then quietly gets out. That he is a user of the library is not recorded anywhere. When the Department of Public Libraries counts footfalls, many like him are not counted.

This is just one of the 205 public libraries in Bengaluru, considered very useful by students who visit. The libraries, maintained by the Department of Public Libraries, are called City Central Libraries and fall under one of the five zones of the department — East, West, Central, North and South, in BBMP limits.

Students find libraries useful to sit and read, and even study for examinations. “I visit this and other closeby libraries and study whenever I have free time; I read and update myself. I want to take the Karnataka Administrative Service exam, and this library is resourceful,” says Shraddha, a final-year student visiting City Central Library, West Zone, in Vijayanagar.

Senior citizens, housewives and working professionals often sit and read in the libraries. One has to pay a fee of Rs 2, a refundable deposit of Rs 200 and Rs 10 for a photo identity card, to become a member. Address proof in the form of a voter identity card, Aadhar card, passport, rental agreement or ration card should be provided along with the photo.

After this, one can borrow three books at a time from the library. A book can be kept for a maximum of 15 days. Late returns will be charged at Re 1 per day, and a maximum of Rs 50.

Kannada books dominate the libraries. Some of the libraries allow citizens to donate books too. All libraries are closed on Mondays, second Tuesdays and fourth Saturdays, and all public holidays. All libraries are supposed to be open from 8 am to 8 pm on the days they are open.

“It would be a good idea to keep the libraries open on public holidays, as we can make use of the time,” said a student in Vijayanagar, who visits West Zone Library regularly.

Pending funds

Recently, DH wrote about the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike not paying Rs 397.37 crore cess to the library department. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) collects 6% of the library cess on property tax, which must be paid to the library department.

However, the library department sources say the due is Rs 638.18 crore. Rs 586 crore due was pending as of April 1, 2022. About Rs 137.2 crore were collected as property tax cess in 2022-23. The BBMP gave Rs 850 crore to the libraries department, and Rs 638.18 crore was pending as of March 2023, show the library department data.

The BBMP has a City Library Authority, headed by the mayor usually, and the administrator now. The BBMP gives the building to public libraries without any rentals. The library department provides the staff, books and infrastructure and maintains it. Sources say the lack of rentals has nothing to do with the pending money to be given to the department.

The library department approves the books for all libraries. It also prepares library-wise action plans for spending the cess money on infrastructure and facilities like water, electricity, salaries of temporary staff and other expenses.

This plan goes to the City Library Authority, which approves it and uses the BBMP cess to implement it, says Satishkumar S Hosamani, director of the Department of Public Libraries. Currently, the libraries are run using the amounts given in parts by the BBMP and the zones of the public libraries department.

Problems cascade

Fund problems cascade into other problems, too. Water problems are sometimes caused by nonpayment of bills and other reasons. For example, the users of the city central library on Sampige Road have complained of water problems in the building in the past.

Toilets getting shut down is common in some of the libraries. Sometimes only gents’ toilets are open, and girls and women struggle. Fans not running properly, internet connectivity issues, lack of charging facilities for mobiles or laptops etc., plague some of the libraries.

Badly maintained books without proper covers and torn pages, bad indexing of books, outdated books no one wants to read, and sometimes not enough books, not enough English books, etc., are common to many public libraries. 

Other issues are rude behaviour of staff, not maintaining the timings, closing of libraries earlier than the scheduled time etc. “I visited the library at 7.30 pm after returning from work, to borrow books to study for an exam, but half the staff had gone home. The last remaining person shouted at me, asking me to come early, and I had to return empty-handed,” explains a student who works part-time.

While zonal libraries have been upgraded and are maintained better, many users complain of a range of other above-mentioned problems, especially in the regular libraries.

Zonal libraries have cloakroom facilities and a better reading atmosphere with all facilities, compared to smaller libraries. Visitors are mostly happy with zonal libraries, while smaller ones demand better infrastructure, facilities and upgration. Walk-in readers are allowed in all the libraries. 

Digital push

Out of the 205 libraries in the city, 100 libraries have digital services. The Public Libraries Department boasts 80,25,232 registered members for its digital library initiative inside Bengaluru. Officials say it includes mostly students and people looking to study for competitive examinations.

People can subscribe to the digital library and access it at their fingertips using the mobile app e-Sarvajanika Granthalaya. e-books, e-journals, videos, separate sections for kids zone, an academic section, a simulation lab, a competitive exams section and the assessment section with quizzes are accessible for the registered users for free.

The officials say e-books have been downloaded 17,19,394 times until now, and videos have been seen 6,18,736 times. However, the data for the number of page views, unique monthly users and the break up of the type of most-viewed content etc. were not readily available.

The department has no ready data to show the number of active users, online and offline. Such data will help make useful decisions that help the department buy the right books and improve the overall approach.

“Books for competitive exams are read widely both online and offline. There is heavy demand and rush for such books,” says Hosamani. He says that the public have to make the best use of the public libraries and spread the book culture everywhere.