Replies to This Forum

Permalink Reply by Somnath Goswami on April 8, 2013 at 19:42

Good Question for every Library professionals....We should knowledge about this.think everybody.

Permalink Reply by Alka Babariya on April 8, 2013 at 19:52

go to granthalay khatu of your city for inquiry

Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on April 8, 2013 at 21:09

Dear Ms. Alka Babriya,

Thank you for the post to draw attention of so many Library professional. It is indeed commendable!!

At the same time I salute the endeavour of Ms. Kiran Patil & her friend Hardik. I offer my Hardik goodwishes to both of them and wish them every success.

Since I do not know the governmental procedures of Gujarat, I can not tell about Government Assistance, but I can suggest some ways which may help you planning your activities.

In case you are staying at certain Housing Estates/Colonies/Cluster (like one of my old friend & a well known Library personnel in Ahmedabad Ms. Avani Shah lives in Vastrapura Housing Estate in Ahmedabad) You can approach the Committee of the said housing estate about your proposal. Since majority of the people in the locality feel it a perceived necessity, they will say in its favour.

The very first thing is SPACE.

You have to accept it that once the space is selected, it will be a PUBLIC SPACE. In case you plant to initially start it in the drawing room of your apartment, you have to be mentally prepared to sacrifice your privacy!! You will certainly receive loads & loads of applauds and appreciations from friends, colleagues and neighbours but your private life will be in doldrums for sure!! I am not discouraging you in any way but just narrating the practical facts of life & livelihood that's all! In case you have a community centre/ Community hall in your housing cluster, it will be wonderful if you can get some space to keep some ALMIRAH to keep books. If this is achieved, you will be certain that 50% of your purpose has been fulfilled!!

At this point, you may now plan for a little group of people (5 to 7 persons at the maximum; preferably try to keep it restricted to 4 persons altogether including you & Your friend) who will form a COMMITTEE to run the Library, to plan its strategies of finance & expenditure and Collection development.

Next is TIMING

You proposed that you and your friend will volunteer your time (MEANS YOUR FREE TIME isn't it?) Examine your work schedule time & again, discuss with your friend, leave time for both of your personal & household chores and see the expectations of the potential readers about their suitable timings and again consult with your friend about the potential free hours and possible readjustments of your own personal timings so that they do not crash mutually.

Then comes FUND/FINANCE

Every such public Libraries usually start with personal patronization. Think & discuss how much you can afford to spend from your own pocket to start with and for monthly recurring expenditure to run it. At the same time you have to decide about the collections. I personally feel that if you start with books on regional languages (Gujarati/ Hindi for example) it will be cheaper. Then comes the types of collection. Fictions and light literary books seems to be quite usable. Books by eminent writers translated in your local languages will come close second. As I presume, with a seed money of 25 Thousand, it will be possible to initially start a library of 1000 to 1200 books in regional language.take help from local library people for keeping the books in the racks. Try to contact the nearby public libraries and consult their resources. Try to develop your collection with those books which are not available with them. (Try to know from them if they are interested to buy second hand books in reduced price. Because if your venture fails, you may at least have some ways to give away the books and recover at least a portion of your money. This may sound odd from a practicing Library professional but it is practical in real life!! However, you can always Donate the books!!)  Get a Bound Ruled Register to keep record of the books. It will act as your Accession Register Do not unnecessarily stick to the rules of Classification strictly just try to keep similar materials together.

By the way, make it certain to keep a record of suggestions from users. A simple bound ruled Register will serve the purpose.

After continuing for a couple of months successfully, discuss about the future of the Library especially in terms of finance. You can raise money from the locality against printed receipts with numbers & date provision and you have to keep accounts of receipt and expenditure. Here too, use a simple bound Ruled Register and put same page numbers at the left & right pages (these type of pages are called Folios) On the Left page keep the records of receipts and on the right side keep statements of expenditure. By the way, Since your friend is a Chartered Accountant, s/he will be knowing more than me in this respect, so I need not elaborate this any further. I'd like to add just one thing, if you find that there is good demand from the users' community, you may ask for token subscription on Annual/Monthly basis.

The last Issue is STAFF;

Try for volunteers. most of privately run Public Libraries are operated by volunteers. So try to spot young or retired persons to act as volunteers.

Enquire from local councilors of Corporations/Municipalities whether some grants can be made available.

I feel this in short the ways to establish and operate a small a small Library with personal effort.

Wish you all success in your endeavour.

SAincerely,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta

Permalink Reply by Amandeep Kapila on April 9, 2013 at 18:10

Hello,

        Composed a library setup draft proposal a few years back for my teacher friend. Was going to publish on my upcoming project. You can access it before hand and hope it will help you in some way. You can find it at http://publications.punlib.net/publications.php?id=00000000008

       Involve the community rather than expecting the Govt. or NGOs to help. The Ist ones won't be concerned at all and the 2nd would be looking for a lions share (try to hijack the project). Those who love book reading and really feel the need for a library and they themselves a lot of stuff to contribute. So think of a book bank, cooperative style.

        Best of Luck.

Permalink Reply by Alka Babariya on April 9, 2013 at 18:36

Thanks