A library without toilet!

BANGALORE: Agrahara Dasarahalli Public library is one of the branches falling under the Hampinagar City Centre library (West zone of the Department of Public Library) and the visitors seem to be quite content with the library maintenance and the facilities.

Located within the building which also accommodates the Dr BR Ambedkar Stadium (Basaveshwarnagar), this library comprises a single floor with a total of 493 members and a collection of 16, 972 books.

SN Shah, a senior citizen and a regular visitor to this library said, “It is spacious here and it stocks all the dailies/newspapers. There is drinking water facility too. What more can I ask for?” Though he added, “The library shuts between 7 and 7.30 whereas other branches are open till 8. Even though Monday is their weekly holiday, at times they are closed on Tuesdays too. Such unexpected holidays, that too at short notice, gets really annoying.”

Since the library is in a building which is not owned by the Department of Public Library and is rented out by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the main grouse here is that there is no toilet exclusively for the library visitors. There is just one public toilet which is used by everyone and it has poor sanitary conditions.

Mahesh, an KAS aspirant who spends close to nine hours studying here said, “Since I spend most of my day here, I need to use the rest room, which is not very clean. But, whom do we complain to? As the toilet is owned by the BBMP, we can’t complain to the library assistant here.”

Another major issue is the noise coming from outside. Since the library is situated right next to a stadium and a play ground, it generates highly disruptive noise on a daily basis. Hence, it becomes difficult for readers sitting outside the reading room to concentrate. Library Assistant Manjula said, “The glass door is noise proof. So the readers sitting inside the hall do not face any problem. But, in case all the seats are occupied, some readers end up going outside the hall and the noise becomes inevitable.”

The instructions and the subject names on the book shelves are written both in English and Kannada. But, similar to the problems faced by readers in other libraries, there aren’t enough books in the competitive section and the ones available are not updated. Regarding issuing books, one can get only Kannada literature books issued. Deputy Director Venkatesh wasn’t available for any comments.

Source: Indian Express