In the modern age where the possession of a Kindle e-reader is the rage, there are many book lovers who still prefer reading from a book than the latest apps and to have a library at home rather than surfing the internet for the online editions.
There is a limit to how much these home based libraries; usually adorning a wall at home can stack. That’s where the two libraries – one based in the heart of Margao and the second on its outskirts – come into the picture.
The Margao Municipal Library, located in the municipality building was established on December 4, 1914 and celebrated its centenary anniversary last year; whereas the South Goa district library was set up on November 21, 2010 and is named after the intellectual and former Parliamentarian from Navelim, Dr Francisco Luis Gomes.
What’s surprising and heartening to note is that the majority of those who visit the libraries that attract crowds from across age groups, are young school going children. A visit to the libraries will see students talk about eternal literature classics as many of them prepare for Shakespeare contests and on the other hand, you have older college students seeing specific research oriented books to back their academic pursuits.
The fact that there are students who take the trouble to travel on public transport from remote areas to collect their book or students who live in Salcete who visit the library to spend time lost in their imagination as they go through page after page tells you a different story of Goa’s future intellectuals.
While the District Library is more centrally located for South Goans and has scenic surroundings as well as spacious and state of the art facilities, the municipal library is easily accessibly and offers a different dimension having a good collection of documents in the domain area of the organization.
The latter helps citizens with information, documentation support and knowledge of the state and has a collection of about 22,000 books and records in different languages. The municipal library also boasts of the ‘Rabindranath Tagore Children’s Library’ which stocks children’s books, nursery rhymes and play activity books. It also has a reading hall, a reference section and a lending books section. Some of their prized treasures are the volumes of Grande Encyclopaedia Portuguese Brasileira (Portuguese encyclopedia), 15 volumes of the selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 64 volumes of the selected works of Mahatma Gandhi and the complete works of William Shakespeare.
