The District Library, Guwahati, has seen a steady growth of membership over the years. Approximately, 200 to 300 people are becoming members of the library every year. Till date, 39,740 people are members of the library.
The high point of the district library is that differently abled people can also visit the library and they are provided wheelchairs and crutches so that they can spend good amount of time reading books without any hindrance. The library also provides Braille books for the visually impaired.
“On an average, 80 to 90 people visit our library daily – the majority of the bookworms being students and, of course, a handful of senior citizens,” informed a technical assistant requesting anonymity and who has been working in the District Library since 2003.
The District Library boasts of 48,626 books. In a year, the library gets approximately 2,000 books from various sources –with many people donating books to the library. This year, the Directorate of Library Services, Assam, has provided a total number of 1,900 books. The library also receives books from the Raja Ram Mohan Roy Library Foundation, Kolkata.
The District Library authorities also ensure from time to time that the damaged books are removed. Few books which the library receives are in a damaged state and few readers also return the books “torn and damaged”.
The library also provides Internet facility to the registered members as part of which they can print, copy and download their relevant study materials. A ‘Koha’ library software has been installed. It is open source software for library automation, which has made the management of books in the library a lot easier. In fact, it is an open source Integrated Library System, used world-wide by the public, school and special libraries. The name comes from a Maori term for a gift or donation.
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