A young reader takes her pick from the rack. (Bhubaneshwarananda Haldar)

Do you survive on a diet of best-sellers and make monthly trips to the bookstore in search of new arrivals that you know would slash a precious pound off your pay cheque? Here is a balm for your bank balance that will also stoke your reading addiction.

A library has opened in BD Block that is part of a national chain with a stock of 4,00,000 unique titles. “And new titles are being added every week,” says Malvika Ray, who has taken the Salt Lake franchise for Just Books.

The open racks have 11,000 titles, mostly English. The books are neatly stacked under subject heads. At one corner of the main hall are magazines — on cars, cookery, computers and comics. “We are subscribing to all the popular Bengali magazines,” says Malvika. Another section houses fiction — Agatha Christie to Umberto Eco, Daniel Steele to Ken Follett. Classics, though less in comparison, still span across centuries and genres — Jane Austen, George Orwell, Lewis Carroll, etc. In a second room is a healthy smattering of books on history, health, current affairs, popular science, parenting and cookery.

The stock in the third room is a work in progress. There is an entire wall dedicated to romance fiction. “Young mothers love these,” says Malvika, pointing to the rows of Jackie Collins, Barbara Taylor Bradford and the like. There is one bookcase with Bengali titles, where Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay shares pride of place with Tagore, Nillohit with Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri. Another bookcase has Hindi titles. The rest are Tamil and Telugu. “There are unlikely to be enough takers for these in Calcutta. We will swap them with Bengali books,” she says.

Though an attendant is there, one can do all the operations by oneself, thanks to a touch-screen kiosk using radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. “The card we issue to each reader activates the touch screen. As each book has an RFID tag, a member can return or issue a book by himself. Our youngest member, a five-year-old, stands on a stool and operates it,” says Malvika’s husband Hemadri.

Within the first month of operation, the library’s membership has crossed the century mark. The location on First Avenue is so prominent that passersby drop in out of curiosity. “My wife is getting bored at home. The block-level libraries are primitive while the State Central Library is too far. This collection should suit her. I can also take Hindi books for my father,” said Vikas Agarwal of Ultadanga, after checking out the stock on his way home.

Just Books is on the first floor of a building that houses a playschool. Just as well, for there is a good collection of children’s books in English. “My daughter loves reading stories. With this library opening in the neighbourhood, I am not having to buy her books constantly,” says Rama Saha, as daughter Adrija browses the racks in search of another Enid Blyton title. “Her cartoon-watching time has also reduced.”

Membership starts from Rs 150 per month. There is no cap on the number of books or magazines one can borrow. “During vacations, some kids come daily,” Malvika smiles. The fee goes up only if one wants to take home more than one title at a time.

A home-delivery facility was initially offered for senior citizens. “But youngsters started taking memberships in the names of their grandparents. That became difficult to continue,” recalls Hemadri.

Just Books may have just anchored in Calcutta but in Bangalore it has 28 branches. “Once a city has five branches they open a warehouse there which multiplies the stock. If a title is not available with a particular branch, the database shows where it is. On getting a requisition request a book gets couriered from another branch. Once Calcutta has more branches, the wait time will reduce.”

The Rays stay in BB Block. “As the children have grown up, my wife has time in hand. That’s why we thought of starting this library. Community library chains are popular in the West as it is becoming too expensive for stand-alone libraries to run without sharing resources. As Salt Lake has educated residents, a library with an affordable membership fee should work here,” Hemadri says.