Re: Telugu libraries
Nasy Sankagiri (narayans@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu)
Fri, 27 Oct 1995 08:59:33 -0400
As one interested in contemporary Telugu literature, and one fairly active
in the local Telugu Assn., I always had the idea of starting a library here
under the Assn. auspices. However, it never came around. At IIT, Kanpur, we
had about 30 families, and 70 or so students of Telugu origin, and the
faculty club donated space to keep our books. We had a lot of books, from
complete original versions of kavitraya mahaabhaaratam, and prabandhamulu
to latest genre fiction, and some non-fiction too. The library was well
frequented by both families, and students, and was maintained by students
voluntarily. Any time someone visited AP, the Assn. would give them some
money to buy new books-we had a decent library budget. However, there is a
fundamental difference between the scene there, and that here. IIT was a
very close knit community, on a residential campus, and everyone knew
everyone. Here, the logistics of maintaining even a simple library under a
local Assn. will be prohibitive. For eg., let us consider a big city based
Assn. like our TAGDV (or Greater Washington Assn.). Where to keep the
books? Who will keep track of the borrowings? How will people pick up and
drop off the books? The downtown is usually the only place centrally
located to all the members, but most of the people will be extremely
reluctant to enter the downtown. Mailing is an option, but quite costly, I
think. Exchange of books across Assn.s will complicate things further.
There is another side to all this: all the Assn. work is done voluntarily,
and people try to do the best job they can. Where a library is concerned,
this best may not be good enough. It needs to be handled by an
establishment which knows its business. On this, I side with Palana's
suggestion of keeping the books in the local public library, and letting
them run it. There can be a few people overseeing the national scene, try
to prevent duplicate purchases, and recommend new purchases, and this will
also make inter-library loans easier. This collection can also be a
reference place for the numerous requests for telugu learning materials on
the net.
I think we definitely have something here. If we can start with at least
four or so assns. participating from around the country, we can have a
decent collection going. I am willing to twist our assn. into contributing
something. Any more 'aye's?
Regards
Nasy