WHAT’S A LIBRARY?
September 22, 2025 Paramount Library Librarian“A Library is the delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life”, a great quote by Norman Cousins, but is it something worth saying or presenting in this era of Mobile phones and the World Wide Web? Well, this could have been true years back when phones didn’t exist and internet was accessible to a limited set of people. When Library was not considered just a place of keeping books, but a place where ideas are generated and peace amongst the crowd is found.
Libraries are important cornerstones of a healthy community. Libraries give people the opportunity to find jobs, explore medical research, experience new ideas, get lost in wonderful stories, while at the same time providing a sense of place for gathering.
Today, hardly do we see people inside a library. We have restricted our minds into thinking that one goes to a library only for the purpose of studying or issuing books and that too when examination is near. I remember, how my University library used to be occupied during examinations and the same library saw only a few people visiting her once in a while, even if not frequently. Since school days, we are allotted a Library period per week and I still don’t understand the logic. People who are readers and understand what a Library is meant for don’t need 40 minutes allotted for the same and the ones who think ‘Library kaun aata hai yaar. Issey achcha toh games period de dete’ are the ones who have restricted a Tranquil place like Library to be seen as a collection of books which no one bothers about. Even if they enter a library, they enter with the purpose of getting a refresher issued.
Earlier, if one had to prepare a matter on any topic, let’s say for example, a school assembly, he/she would rush to the library, taking out time from the classes and search for books which would help. A Library was considered a place where one could sit for hours, reading books of his/her favorite genre or the author and develop ideas. Library is a place where one can sit, observe, explore and let the feelings out in the best possible way.
Now that we have easy, rather very easy access to Internet, the fun of visiting a library is lost. Only the ones who find solace between books visit her often and I have a real-life example to share. Ruskin Bond, a best-selling author made Mussoorie his home and often visits the ‘Mussoorie Library’ at an age of 84. It’s for those who consider a Library for what she is not. Library is not a place to keep books which tell us about the time Dinosaurs ruled earth and How Indian Economy is growing. Library in itself is a world and she has helped people change the world we are living in. But these days, we are moving towards what the Technology is offering us and have left behind what Morocco gifted us.
