Public Library There & Here

Dreaming about American public library in Nepal

By Rama Parajuli

There will soon be a public library in the Kathmandu valley. It will be located in Bhrikutimandap for the time being. The renovation and furnishing of the building has been almost completed. About 15 bookracks are ready. A medium size hall is being divided into a reception, a reading section, a bookrack section, and a small office.

At the beginning, the library may not be very useful. Initially, a majority of its holdings will come from donated books and old magazines. Hence it might not attract a whole lot of people. However it will be turned into a useful and exciting place if the master plan is implemented in its full. If everything goes accordingly, there will be a full-fledged public library in the capital. I would be very happy to have a library in my work town, similar to the one, I used in the US, in 2003.

I was really impressed by the library system in Ithaca, a small town in upstate New York two years ago. I and my 2 and half-year-old son were accompanying my husband for his research work to be done in the US. He chose Cornell University as a base, as he preferred to stay in a small town with a small baby around. The day after we reached Ithaca he went to the University and used its library Internet service to send email. Next day, I also went to the same place and used the library for the same purpose; we could do it without becoming a member!

Within a week, friends advised us that we should visit Ithaca public library located in the main city center. We went there. Our son was delighted to see a children’s center with a lot of children’s books, videos and computer game terminals. The process of becoming a member was so easy that the very next day we went there with our passports and got the membership card, all free of charge.

My son, Vishad really liked the library. He particularly liked the computer section for children as it contained mind games that suit his age. There used to be story-telling sessions for kids regularly. My son also took part in origami lessons. We used to ask him: where do you want to go chhora, library or playground? His answer always was: first to the library, then to the playground.

We used to bring videocassettes for Vishad and us. I could borrow cookbooks and books to learn English for 10-15 days from the library. My husband mostly borrowed books related to the history of radio in America.
My son still remembers the activities he used to do in the library. He misses it here. He frequently asks me – mamu when can we go to America, next? When I ask him why he wants to go to America, he says he wants to go back to the library.

A lot of activities sustain the Ithaca Public library. Many Volunteers work there helping it in its various departments including circulation and shelving. The public is informed about any kind of hardship that a library faces immediately. For example, during 2003, the financial contribution of the local government that supported the library was reduced drastically. As a result the library had to cut many activities including activities for children and remained closed on Sundays. One local newspaper carried the news, which was enough to generate immense response from the public. The library got the required amount of money as donation from many local donors and was able to open on Sundays and restore some of its cut activities.

There is an organization of people who are ‘friends’ of the public library system in Tompkins County that includes the city of Ithaca. It collects books and other materials as donations from one and all throughout the year. There is a place where you can donate the book for the library. Its volunteers then sort these materials and the organization holds a book sale event twice a year. It is said that this event, which lasts for more than a week each time, is the third largest of its kind in the entire US. The fund raised in this way used to support the library system.

One such sale was held during October 2003 and I was really impressed with the turnout. Apparently people come from other parts of the US to buy books. All in all, I was really impressed with the support and usefulness of the public library in Ithaca. I hope in the years to come we will have a similar library in different parts of Nepal.

1 Comment »

i am impressed too, even if i could never be there in the us to see the library. will our children ever be able to get such facilities? i don’t think so. because people in our country are so engrossed in politics and criticizing others that they don’t have time to think about such things. how much value a library has in our society will perhaps be reflected by the number of response your blog generates. my simple question is which is the best public library, if there is any, in nepal? the town i come from does possess a library only for namesake. and i don’t know about kathmandu as i am fairly newcomer here in this alien city.

Comment by boby — 5/15/2005 @ 12:17 pm