By-NITHYA SIVASHANKAR
The HinduA book for everyone: At Just Books library. Photo: K. Ananthan
With over 8,000 titles to choose from, Just Books, a community library chain, arrives in Coimbatore
In 2008, R. Sunderrajan, a software engineer from Bangalore, started a library at his residence because he did not want to travel too long to borrow books. Within a short period of time, members to his library multiplied. What started off as a part-time business has grown into a company that has 70 libraries in 10 major cities across India. The 70th branch of Just Books was launched in Coimbatore last week.
CONVENIENT
Located near Cream Centre in Race Course, this library is part of a country-wide community library chain. Niranjani Ramanathan, who runs Just Books here says, “Members can borrow and return books from any Just Books library in the country. Our libraries are integrated. So, if you are travelling, you can borrow a book from a Just Books outlet in one city and return it elsewhere.”
Just Books Coimbatore already has 8,000 books that cater to people of all ages. Children can choose from the popular Mr. Men, Curious George and Maisyseries to Indian picture books published by Tulika and Pratham Books. For young adults, there are Judy Blumes, Roald Dahls, Alexander McCall Smiths and Eva Ibbotsons, apart from the staple Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books.
For the adults, there is romance, science fiction, classics, humour, thrillers, business and management, self-help, spirituality, cookery, biographies and autobiographies to choose from. “Since the library is part of a large network, if a member from our city needs a book that is available in another library, we will get it for them. There is a combined collection of over 6 lakh books in our library chain,” says Niranjani. There are books in regional languages too. “For now, we have stocked our library with books in Tamil and Malayalam. We could also procure books in Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Urdu and Gujarati for our members.”
A special feature about Just Books is the unmanned RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) kiosk, which enables a member to search for, issue and return a book without the aid of a librarian. The functioning of this machine is very similar to that of an ATM. The members are given an ID card which enables them to use the kiosk. The books have RFID tags which are read by the machine. You can walk in, pick a book and borrow it with just a couple of swipes on the touch screen. Members can also order their books online (www.justbooksclc.com) or over phone, and have them picked up and delivered from anywhere within the city for a nominal delivery charge.
As part of Just Books’ initiative to promote reading, Niranjani plans to host events at the library on a weekly basis. “We will organise community-based events such as storytelling, book reading, author signing, cookery demonstrations, art and craft sessions, and health counselling sessions for members and non-members,” she says. She also plans to set up a reading lounge.
