THE LIBRARY AND ITS USES

Library is a room or building containing books for reading or reference. In general sense, however, the emphasis is on the collection of books, whether stationed under a roof or not. Libraries are divisible into there kinds personal, pubic and institutional. The first type implies individual ownership and exclusive right of access. Private people of sufficient means, both out of thirst for reading and fashion, may collect a series of books on different subjects and place them in a corner of his residence or office. Such a collection is called his library. Private libraries of real quality and use were owned in the past by British Lords and Reminders and Maharajas of this sub-continent. In our country small-scale private libraries are possessed by solvent middle-class people, particularly lawyers, offices and educationists.

The second type that is public library is the order of the day. It is to be seen in large number in every country. A public library by its nature is open to the public in general. Accordingly, it contains books of different varieties and subjects with a view to responding to the varying need and taste of its readers. The primary function of a public of a public library is to land books but in any library worth the name there is spacious reading accommodation where readers may sit in solitude and study for hours together.

The third of the kind is the institutional library, as it may be called, because it is maintained by some institution a college, a university, a trade union, a chambers of commerce or a government department. Such a library is open to the members of the institution concerned.

It is never possible to describe the used of library in full. Man needs to read as he needs to eat. Reading not only strengthens his knowledge but also preserves his mental health and thus keeps him fit for the struggle of life. But none except a few can buy all the books he must read. As for the students and teachers, their occupational pursuits would be badly affected without the library maintained by their respective institutions. Gradually with the growth of the habit of reading, the reader develops the instinct of possessing at least some of the worthy books which leads him to book-shop.

Library has also other important uses. Without well-equipped library, whether public, private or institutional, research work is next to impossible. Because all the valuable books of all ages and the rare manuscripts and old records of the past can be maintained only by a library.

In consideration of these and other uses of the library, every nation aiming at the enrichment of its civilization should treat the organization of libraries with a high degree of attention. In short, an all-out drive should be launched upon to build up in the country a net-work of libraries and make arrangement of financial assistance that they may not be closed down in future for want of funds.