Development Precedes Infrastructure: A Pragmatic Approach to India's Growth

LIBRARY AND ITS USES
Introduction - Different kinds of libraries ·
Personal, public and institutional - importance of
library -Conclusion.
The root-meaning of the word library is a room
or building containing a collection of books for
reading. But as there are now circulating or
travelling libraries in many countries, the world
has undergone a change in its meaning. By the
word now indicated a collection of books for
reading or reference;
There are kinds of libraries personal, public and
institutional.
A personal library is one which belongs to a
private person, generally of sufficient means.
Such libraries grow out of such person’s taste
for knowledge and, sometimes, for fashion. There
are, of course, small scale private libraries owned
by solvent lawyers, educationists and persons of
literary taste. But such libraries contain books
on some particular subject or subjects chosen
according to the taste and interest of their
owners.
A public library is one which is open to the
public. In order to cater to the taste and interest
of all classes of people, a public library has to
contain books on different subjects and varieties.
Such libraries may be seen in large numbers in
every country. Most of these libraries are
managed or subsidized by their states. The
British Museum library of London and the Central
library of Moscow are instances of public
libraries. Again, many such libraries have been
set up in England and America by philanthropic
people like Mr. Carnegie, the American
millionaire.
An institutional library is one which belongs to
an institution such as a university, a college, a
school, a chamber of commerce, a club or a
governmental department. Such a library is open
to the members of the institution concerned and,
therefore, generally contains hooks which are
needed by them most.
As acquisition of knowledge depends mostly on
reading, man has to read as necessarily as he
has to eat. It adds to what he has already learnt
and makes him strong and fit for rude battle of
life. But for financial difficulties most of the
persons who are keen on reading cannot
purchase the books they need to read. Hence
arises the importance of libraries. Had there
been no libraries, both public and institutional,
such persons would have been deprived of their
reading. The teachers and the students, in like
manner, would be badly affected if their
institutions had no libraries of their own.
Libraries attract people to read and thus create
the habit of reading and- stimulate the thirst for
more and more knowledge. But for the libraries,
there would be no authors, no poets, and no
thinkers. The libraries thus help in the
advancement of learning and expansion of
knowledge.
The library has another very important use. No
research work is possible without a well equipped
library containing valuable books of all ages, rare
manuscripts and old records. A library of this
type is thus of incalculable help in throwing light
on unearthed subjects. Time passes in an
unbroken continuity as does the water of the
river. The books of the libraries are a record of
this continuity. They thus enable us to know
how human society has developed in thought
and action step by step.