Educated people are addicted to reading of books and periodicals. Many specializes in reading novels/ fictions, some specializes in reading history, travelogues or detective stories or crime thrillers. Still some others are fans of books dealing with religion and spirituality. Management books are a favorite pastime with managers. Professors read books on subjects they teach. Political history, especially contemporary political history is a favorite among those who like participating in intellectual debates in parties.
A section of the educated book readers has always been afflicted to book keeping or rather keeping books with them in their homes and offices. They take pride in their own/ family private libraries or collection of books. Moreover, most educated people like other people to have other people to have books at home in book cases. Book keeping is treated as a civilized fashion. Educated people also favor public libraries. Large commercial firms have libraries in their offices and reference books are always kept on book shelves and book cases in executives' office rooms. The government officers and ministers take care to see that their office rooms have books - both for their ready reference and to impress their visitors. Of course, schools, colleges, universities and other educational / research establishments cannot function without Libraries. The US and British Governments have libraries as part of their cultural activities in other countries.
Nations also like the idea of displaying their admiration of education by setting up National Libraries. India has fore such National Libraries - one each at Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. Scholars seem to be very emotionally attached to such National Libraries.
Addiction to such book keeping helps create lot of employment: there are armies of librarians and library assistants: there is so much work: selecting, purchasing, accessing, arranging, disinfecting and cleaning books. Book shelves, reading tables, chairs and other furniture's are also required to be purchased, arranged, dusted and cleaned. Libraries require rooms constructed space for keeping the books.
Under a specific legislation, all publishers are required to send four copies of any publication they bring out to the National Libraries free of cost. Reportedly only 30%of the books published each year are sent by the publishers to the National Libraries, though the penalty for sending copies to National Libraries attract a fine of Rs, 50 or the cost of the book whose copied have not been filed to the National Libraries which send thousands of letters to publishers about bob-receipt of the copies of books the Libraries have not received: the National Library Assistants go through newspapers and magazines to read about books in the book review sections.Meanwhile thousands of books keep lying unaccessed and inaccessible to potential (may be zero in number)readers of National Libraries.
So, the piece of relevant legislation may be up for review soon. The Ministry of Education would give a big thrust to Nation Book Keeping Addiction. More stringent law enforcement machinery may be devised, the penalty for failing to send copies of new publications to National Libraries may be raised to say Rs2500 per book or copy, the manpower strength of the National Libraries may have to be increased many fold. There would be larger allocation of funds for space and furniture for the libraries.
Just like any other addiction, book keeping in National Libraries is only huge costs and benefits are small, except for the snob-value. What percentage of the books get referred or used even over a century of the life of a book? No one cares to estimate. What is the amount spent on National Libraries by the Government and the publishers is unlikely to be small. What great benefit does the National Libraries do by keeping millions of books published in the last 30 years since the electronic storage retrieval and reading devices and micro-filming technology have become available.
The obsession with physical book keeping must go: it is costly and its utility is meager. National Libraries may not keep physical paper documents any longer, say, after 2010 and give up the space for alternative productive use.
Libraries of physical paper documents is no longer a public good but a public wastage of National resources. By keeping physical books/ periodicals in National Libraries, the Nation's reservoir of knowledge is not going to increase, nor will education spread.
Publishers can just email PDF file to National Libraries and National Libraries' websites should allow on line access to their entire catalogue and non-downloadable, viewing of the large volume of material they start keeping instead of keeping paper documents. The four National Libraries can be just merged into one and left in the Cyberspace after 2035.
By 2050, libraries of physical books and periodicals - public, private should all be replaced by electronic tablets and readers, resource websites and connected or independent e-libraries.
Indians will have given up a hugely costly, environmentally unfriendly, low value addiction to a low cost, environment friendly, reader/ user friendly, high value addiction to reading electronically.
Note: Do not worry, each resident Indian above the age of 6 would have internet access, an electronic PC tablet cum reader by 2050. If they don't why talk about economic development and growth: remain in economic backwardness, economic poverty and poverty of education and intellect. I will certainly not be there either way.
