Digital Reading Hits Libraries, Many Shut Down As People Keep Away

The white steps of the Asiatic Library, near Horniman Circle in South Mumbai, are filled with youngsters sitting on them. While many are clicking photographs, some others are filming reels for social media. There are others reclining on the steps looking at the sights of the nearby British-era buildings. Of these, no one steps into the wider doors of the building to even look inside. Housing one of the oldest public libraries in the country, the Asiatic Library like many others is a victim of public apathy. Getting the public into public libraries is now an uphill task for all of them, say those operating these libraries.   

There is a magic to opening a book, sniffing into its pages for the heady smell that books have, finding a cosy corner and curling up to read it. For book lovers this magic is addictive. For several decades, public and private libraries have been spaces of reading experiences offering a warm comfort to their readers. With technology invading the reading sphere, it is the digitized experience that is winning over the magic of opening a real book. With public apathy, lack of funds, declining memberships and failure to reinvent itself against the digital competition, public and private libraries face closure.  

Public libraries are an important part of society and are the windows to culture, education and research. For many public libraries, April, May and June are crucial for membership renewals and new memberships. However, during the COVID-19 lockdown, a sizeable number of these libraries closed down for want of funds to run the theme. The memberships dwindled after the lockdown as digital reading had increased.

“The readers have not come back to many of the libraries. With books at the press of the fingers, why will someone brave Mumbai’s traffic jams and reach these libraries? Digital reading is the reason for the death of public and private libraries across India. Even many private libraries have shut,” says Bhainand Manish, who operated a private library. “After I shut down the library, I advertised that I wanted to give away the books, but no one turned up even for that. This shows the adverse impact of digital reading,” says Manish. 

The 125-year-old Mumbai Marathi Granthalaya has lost out to public apathy. Grappling with multiple problems including political interference, dearth of funds, and continuous infighting amongst the members and underpaid staff, has ensured that this library with a rich collection of Marathi books, is finding survival a daunting task. Headed by Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar – which he had headed for the past 30 years – this library is funded by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which is the richest civic body in the country.

A source who is a member of this library says that the BMC is not keen on funding this library as it is headed by the NCP. “The politicians have killed this library. The entire premises of this library are in bad shape. The building cannot take any more refurbishing or renovations. It has to be redeveloped,” says the source. The vast land abounding this library has become a bone of contention with political opponents, each accusing the other of creating a situation to hand over this prime land to builders.

“The builder will develop the land and build the library. Already it has lost out on readers. Once it is shut down for redevelopment, there will be no deadline for its restarting,” says the source. Many of its branches have been shut for want of readers. Of the 44 branches, there are 29 open now. Of these, only 21 are actively operational.   

Despite the large Marathi population, the library is crying out for members, thereby ensuring its survival. Though numerous Marathi film and theatre personalities have expressed a desire to run this library and reinvent it through cultural events, the politicians are not keen on letting go, say sources.  

Founded in 1898, this library has over 6,45,569 Marathi books – many of them are rare and over 200 years old. In the past, the Mumbai Marathi Granthalaya has been frequented by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Lokmanya Tilak and other luminaries.

In Maharashtra, as part of the efforts to take education to all sections in the rural and urban areas of the state, private philanthropists and municipal corporations popularized public libraries. A book village too was started in Bhilari village in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra by Vinod Tawade, a former BJP minister. Under this programme, every household in this scenic village located close to the hill station Mahabaleshwar housed a library in their living rooms. People could also donate books here. However, sources say that the people lost interest in maintaining it as there was no accompanying income. 

The Mahsala Public Library in Raigad district of Maharashtra spent an estimated Rs 3,00,000 on drying books that were soaked in a storm after the roof of the building collapsed. This library, a victim of multiple storms which has hit the district in recent years, has numerous encyclopaedias in Marathi, including the speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.    

In the first three decades after Independence, there were many laws that were enacted to promote library-centred education. This had seen a rapid growth of public libraries across India. Today, about 18 states have enacted their own laws for public libraries and its overall administration.
The Asiatic Library, with its tall majestic white columns and wide white steps, has been featured in numerous Bollywood films. The refurbished building in its white splendour, also known as Town Hall, was built in 1804 by British lawyer and jurist Sir James Mackintosh, this library is a well-known centre for research and reference. This library too has been hit by a declining member population and a severe crunch of funds. Other libraries in similar situations include J N Petit, David Sassoon and the NCPA amongst others.

According to Mumbai resident Rohini Thitte, a regular visitor to various libraries across the city, the main problem faced by these spaces is the lack of reinvention. “I am a regular library goer. They have failed to reimagine the new reader and make themselves an important choice for the readers. These libraries have tried to exist on their past importance and have not created a new market for themselves. There must be newer reading interactions and books from across the globe that must be sourced. Not a single library has done anything to attract the new reader or retain the older ones,” says Thitte.  

“The library movement has to be reenergized,” says Shirish Kulkamat, a private philanthropist who has been making donations of books to many private libraries. “So many people have told me not to give them books but funds. There must be a reinvention of the library culture in India. With so many of them closing down as they cannot face the competition of digitized reading, it is a matter of time before there will be no libraries left,” says Kulkamat.