Bhubaneswar, Aug. 21: The Internet has weaned students away from libraries that generally wear a deserted look these days.

A survey conducted in the capital shows that barring a few students who are preparing for competitive examinations, the others hardly ever visit these repositories of books.

For them, it is easier to log in to a website and get the required information without having to go through the pages of an entire textbook.

“Going through a textbook is a tedious job. It is much easier getting information on the net,” said Chandrakant Baral, a student of Utkal University. No wonder, he said, people these days visit libraries just to read newspapers or magazines.

However, P.K. Mohanty, who is in charge of Parija Library, Utkal University, does not totally agree that students have deserted libraries altogether.

“A section of students still borrows books from libraries. However, sometimes students keep the books much longer than the allotted time,” said the librarian. Students like Satyabrata Sahni agree that some of them do keep books for months together creating problems for others.

Time constraint is another factor influencing reading habits. “Although the reading room is kept open from 11am to 4pm, students still find it difficult to visit the study rooms. We wish we had more time for reading,” said Monika Mohapatra, a student of Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar (BJB) Autonomous College.

Despite an overall decline in interest in libraries, the demand for journals such as Employment News has increased with students looking for job-specific information. “It’s true that most students visit the study room looking for Employment News,” said Manoj Kumar Das, in-charge of BJB College library.

Most of colleges have seminar libraries apart from a main library. But the trend is same in both kinds of libraries. “Though we have kept several books for reference, students are just not interested,” said Kabir Mohan Sethy, head of department geography, Utkal University.

As a matter of principle, books from outside are not allowed into the reading rooms of many college libraries. “If we allow them to bring in books, there is also the danger of them taking away library books while leaving. We can’t take that risk,” said Sanatan Behera, library in-charge, Rajdhani Autonomous College.

The rise of private coaching centres also keeps students away from textbooks. Behera slammed the faculty members for not guiding the students to follow textbooks. “In our time, the relationship between the student and the teachers used to be cordial but that is missing these days. This is an important reason why students are losing touch with textbooks,” he said.

While many college libraries do not have Internet and e-library facilities, some do keep international journals, which can be obtained on payment.

“The subscription fee for international journals is quite high. College libraries should ensure the availability of paid journals for a reasonable fee,” said Sandeep Kumar Panda, a research scholar of Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar.

Ramadevi Womens’ College has introduced an e-library system through which books are issued and returned. “Though we do not have a complete e-library, still 80 per cent of the records are maintained digitally,” said Anuradha Das, library in-charge of the college.

She hoped the entire process would be digitalised shortly. Almost every college library is short on staff and this makes maintenance difficult.