One is in Bagbazar, the other in Bijoygarh. One is 123 years old, the other just 25. The libraries are separated by decades and miles but bound by a common government grant — of Rs 25,500 each — and a common fate — of keeping precious book addresses in town alive against all odds.

So, while Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s Book Fair is set to flourish on the Maidan yet again, two book addresses at two ends of the town are engaged in a fight to avert a fadeout.

Both Bagbazar Reading Library and Dipayan Library, in Bijoygarh, had started out as primary library units sponsored by the state, before being upgraded to “town libraries” in the 1980s, ranking in importance next only to State Central Library and Kolkata Metropolitan Library. The sorry state, of course, belies the status.

Bagbazar Reading Library is a dilapidated building with around 90,000 books and journals, an acute space crunch and no money or infrastructure to preserve its rare collection.

The library, located at 2, KC Bose Road, off Bhupen Bose Avenue, looks lost. This despite having 1,100 members on its rolls and a strong demand for books. “Based on the readership and demand for books, we got an additional grant of Rs 30,000 in 2004 and 2005. But even that’s not enough to meet the expenses. We need racks and cabinets,” says Anamika Pal Chowdhury, librarian, Bagbazar Reading Library.

With no tools for preservation in sight, the library has recently shifted out a chunk of its tomes to State Central Library for the content to be transferred on compact discs.

Dipayan Library, at 8/41, Bijoygarh, is in a far worse shape, despite 7,000-odd books and 1,400-plus members.

Forget tech tools of preservation, the place does not even have a telephone. A library assistant and a junior library attendant struggle to manage books and readers.

“We got Rs 25,000 in 2004 and 2005 to buy text and career guidance books. We got an additional Rs 15,000 in the past two years on the basis of the library’s performance, which we used up in buying more books,” says Rajat Das, library assistant at Dipayan. “Another Rs 15,000 would probably help us revive the library, renovate the building and get more racks and cabinets. We overshoot our budget on furniture, binding and preservation of books,” he explained.

Going by the directorate of library services rules, a town library should have four staff members — librarian, library assistant, daftari-cum-bookbinder and a night watchman.

Dipayan has gone without a librarian, a daftari-cum-bookbinder and a night guard for close to two decades. And Bagbazar Reading Library has had no night guard for a year.

So much for books finding pride of place in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s Bengal.