Does Ranchi have well-stocked libraries.

No, I don?t think so. Book lovers have to visit Calcutta or Delhi to purchase books of their choice. Libraries in the city stock old editions of books, thereby limiting the choice available to readers. There are nogood bookstores gere either. The state library in Ranchi does not have choice for the voracious readers. We, however, have a good collection of old English classics in ILCC. Students throng ILCC for books for competitive exams.

What facilities does ILCC provide to the people of Ranchi?

We have more than 30,000 books on varied subjects. There are different sections for each book, We keep three copies of each book so that subscribers can get them when needed. There are books for research scholars as well. About 14, 000 books have been donated by the British Council. We have life memberships, individual memberships and institutional memberships. We are also planning to computerise operations in the library. At present, all the work is done manually, making it very cumbersome.

Do you think steps should be taken to restore the Doranda library?

Of course. Since the library has an impressive collection of more than 40,000 books, it needs to be restored. The government should take immediate steps to prevent those rare and precious books from being ruined. It is also one of the cheapest library in the state capital.

With the advent of television and the Internet, children rarely read. What should be done to inculcate reading habit among children.

We must set up more reader-friendly libraries. Parents should take their children to libraries on weekends and encourage them to spend quality time with books. They should gift their children with books on birthdays or on other occasions. Schools should make library classes compulsory for children.

Aarti Sahuliyar