| DIANA FERNANDES
Years before the Krishnadas Shama Goa State Central Library was inaugurated at Patto, the municipal building located in the heart of the city was the place to go to for a wide selection of books. Back then, book shelves were placed close to each other, limited seating arrangements and a first time visitor would have no idea of a special rare book selection the library owned.
With the Patto four floor library however, the situation has turned for the best and the general public has taken to it like never before.
In a single day, the library receives over 500 visitors a day. With its wide selection of newspapers, a total of 27 and magazines totaling 280, it’s no surprise to see people sitting at tables and sofas in the area indulging in the day’s news or the latest fashion styles.
The circulation department has over 75,000 books with a new selection donated by the CII’s Panaji First initiative.
The library has a membership of 22,868 with 14,691 using the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) cards that cost Rs. 50 for children and Rs. 200 for adults for issuing of one book and one magazine. A Rs. 450 membership allows for two books and two magazines to be issued while a Rs. 700 allows for issuing of three books and three magazines. The cards come as a relief from the once paper cards. “It’s become so easy now. I just need to pick my book and use the check in/ checkout kiosks to issue and return books, without having to wait for someone to take my book like in the old place. It’s become so much simpler now,” says one member as she self- issues a book from the lending section, which has a collection of 75,000 books.
In comparison, the Dr Francisco Luis Gomes District Library, Navelim has a collection of over 54,000 books and a membership of 5,449 adults and 575 children.
Library in charge at the Navelim library, Mohandas Naik says while the numbers are satisfactory, there is a need to increase these numbers.
“Our aim is to give free library services to the people of South Goa. Currently maybe because of transport and lack of awareness issues, people from villages don’t visit as much. People that are closer to the city tend to come often,” says Naik of the library that receives around 250 people visiting on a daily basis.
Naik aims to target these villages by organizing awareness camps displaying books available at the library as well as reading and drawing competitions.
The recent trend however that both libraries have faced is of students coming as part of academic excursions.
“On certain days we get 1,000 students visiting the library for academic excursions. It is important for children to know about these libraries as they are knowledge houses of the society,” says Carlos Fernandes, curator of the Central library. Naik agrees adding college students are a regular when it’s time for assignment submissions and projects.
Fernandes prides on Goa’s libraries as one of the best in the country. “This is probably the first government library to have RFID memberships and a web based union catalogue of Goa that allows a person issuing a book in Pernem to return it in Panjim,” he says.
The library’s rare book selection is a hit among many researchers and history fans and the curator’s ongoing efforts of procuring them from different agencies only adds to the collection. Recently, copies of Stephens Thomas’s 1622 publication of Doutrina Christam em Lingua Bramana Canarim and Croix, Eticene de la. Discursos sobre a vida de Apostelo Sam Pedro from 1629 were obtained from the University of Edinburg. The Krista Purana however, is the most popular one among the section. The Navelim library too has copies in its rare book section.
The children’s section is another area that gets a lot of attention. In Panjim, vacation season and holidays are the best time to see the glee on children’s faces as they enter a welcoming hall with stuffed teddy bears and colorful tables and chairs.
“The moment the children enter, it’s hard to miss the excited look on their faces as they read books on general knowledge, stories, science, technology and arts as well as poems and essays in English, Hindi, Marathi and Konkani,” says the attendant on the second floor’s children’s section.
Review Bureau
