Inspection Team Findings at Delhi Public Library

The listed findings are based on the inspection of Delhi Public Library located at D.B. Gupta Road conducted by AAP Karol Bagh constituency field team. The collated information is based on the interviews of staff members, library readers and general observation of AAP team. Team has also contemplated possible solutions to different problems. The report is divided into 4 sections –

Section 1 - General information about the Library
Section 2 - Problems in the library
Section 3 - Detailed solutions
Section 4 – Conclusion and future course of action.

Section 1: General Information

The Delhi Public Library at D.B. Gupta Road acts as a branch library cum north zonal office of Delhi Public Library. It controls all the sub-branches, R.C. libraries, community libraries located in North Delhi region. The C-block Community Center library on New Rohtak Road also falls under its jurisdiction. Sub branches at Narela, Bawana, Mundka, Sangam Park etc. also falls under its jurisdiction.
The Library is operating from a rented premise with address 5/56 D.B. Gupta Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi since year 1963. Library has nearly 80,000 books. It has membership of approximately 25,800 people. The membership fee is Rs. 20 for five years duration. Library promises to provide efficient internet facility. It also provides few DVD/CDs.

Section 2: Observation of Inspection Team

The issues identified are as following:

Legal Issues
Library authorities cannot take up the renovation and maintenance work on their own. Ideally landowner is supposed to fulfill this responsibility or the library authorities need to obtain permission from landowner.
Building Maintenance Issues:
The landowner is not inclined to invest in the infrastructural renovation of the building. Thus building is in dilapidated state. Most of the walls are seeping with water and all the water outlets of first floor are closed. This poses a huge risk of building collapse which may result in physical as well economic losses.
The paint is peeling off plastered walls. At some places even the plaster is peeling off. The walls are dirty and highly unaesthetic. This vitiates the whole atmosphere of the library.
The entrance of the building is deluged with water blockage. The passage from the entry point of premises to entry point of the building is muddy. During rain, the passage turns slippery and mucky. This poses a huge accidental risk to many elderly people who visit the library.
Amenities Issues:
The Library does not have a toilet room facility. This creates problem for visitors who want to sit for longer duration in the library.
The Library does not have a functioning water cooler facility. In the peak summer, It would be unbearable for staff and members to sit in the library without having access to cold water.
The Library does not have proper air conditioning or cooling facility. All the coolers are lying wasted or dysfunctional.
The Library does not have properly maintained computer access room. Of the 6 computers placed in Computer room, 5 are not functioning. Only a single machine is functioning thus creating hurdle in smooth access to information. Due to this, a user cannot use the internet for more than 30 minutes. Given the slow speed of internet and large membership of Library, such facility loses its relevance.
The computer room is full of dirt and not provided with air-conditioning facility. Even a cooler is not installed in the room. This results in frequent breakdown of computer machines.
Area issues
The library is operating from a four room apartment at ground floor. Thus there is not enough space for managing present capacity of 80000 books. This results in poor upkeep of books.
The reading area is very small. It can hardly accommodate more than 10 people at a time. For a library with membership of approx. 26000 people, sitting space of 10 persons is very less. This precisely indicates the cause behind the declining enthusiasm for library culture in the country.
The Landowner wants the library authorities to vacate the premises. Thus he is not willing to grant extra space to government.
Book Maintenance issues
A large number of books (nearly 1000) are received every month. The lack of space, seeping walls, dirty atmosphere results in poor maintenance. The books in the upper stacks are rarely touched thus often found covered in dirt and filth. Due to water seepage, many books are damaged.
Every month, certain numbers of books are phased out from library to create space for new set of books. The library staff has a poor policy of selling phased out books to garbage collector. This leads to wastage of precious knowledge resources.
Due to lack of space, books remain lying in the office in packaged form instead of being arranged in the stacks or book racks.
The labeling and cataloguing of books was not up to the mark. The sign chits on book racks were not renewed for long time.
Infrastructural Issues
The library is not differently-abled person friendly. Even a normal person would find it tough to enter in the library on rainy days.
The furniture is limited and unaesthetic from study purpose.
The building has high chances of collapse. This can lead to a major accident any time. As per our information, the blockage of water on the first floor, non-renovation, poor upkeep is intentionally done by the land owner.
Timing Issues
The library is hardly open for 7 hours on daily basis. It opens at 12:30 noon and closes by 6:45 PM in evening. Thus the access window for a working common man is very limited.

Section 3: Suggestions

The solution to each issue requires simultaneous effort in administrative, legal and financial domain.

Legal Steps

For a permanent solution to the problem, government should resolve the conflict with land owner. We need to follow two-pronged approach.
Firstly, send him notice for the renovation of the building. Either the landowner should himself take the initiative or he should pass the renovation rights to library authorities so that any imminent threat to life and property could be avoided.

Secondly, renegotiate the rent of the building.

Financial Steps

The finances could be arranged from -

State Government: The subject of Libraries falls under state list thus state government is duty bound to disburse certain sum of money for the upkeep of library.

Central Government: The subject of education is concurrent. Thus, we can request funds from the central government ministry of human resource development as well as ministry of culture under which Delhi Public Library falls.

MPLAD and MLALAD: If schools are temple of education then Libraries are the banks of education. Thus respective area MP and MLA should contribute certain sum of money for the upkeep of library.

Public funding: options like public donation for the upkeep need to be evaluated within framework of law.

Administrative steps

The higher library authorities need to be informed about the pathetic state of affairs. Authorities should be asked to streamline various quality assessments and monitoring procedure by forming inspection committee consisting of active readers.

Certain innovative solutions need to be adopted for phasing out of books. For example, books could be auctioned to general public or distributed for free in the school or colleges instead of given to garbage collectors.

Out of Box solutions

Instead of investing huge sum of money on legal proceeding and maintenance, government can build new library from scratch.
Government can enter in the agreement framework or contract with landowner, where landowner is allowed to pursue his developmental plan over the land but once the new infrastructure on the whole piece of land is constructed then he should allocate certain share of floor space for the purpose of library. Such floor space area should be easily accessible to all sections of people including differently abled, children, and elderly. It should be safe and at least double the current size of rented premises.
Government can alternatively look for new space for library. If money is not an issue then an underground library below the Ajmal Khan Park could be built from scratch.
Government can also rent space lying waste alongside from railways. However such spaces need to be fit with sound proof glasses.
Government can take one floor from the existing infrastructure of Tibbia College. Government could construct the infrastructure on their own cost.
Government can distribute the books to different schools in the constituency. Each school can allocate one room for storage and another for reading room facility. The catalogue of the book can be managed online. Person can check the availability of the book at home and then go to corresponding location to fetch the book.


Section 4: Conclusion and Future course of action

The issues identified were administrative, financial and legal in nature. While administrative and financial issues could be taken care with contribution from central and state government but legal issues require the jurisdiction of court.
With the help of these legal, administrative, financial and out of box solution, we recommend the following actions should be taken at the earliest:
Build a toilet facility in the premises
Install air conditioner or cooler equipment in the library
Distribute the phase out or obsolete books to students for free
Increase the area of Library
Increase the sitting space capacity of Library to around 100 people
Install air condition in the computer room.
Repair all the computer machines and maintain them on a regular basis
Create a grievance reporting and redressal mechanism in the Library
Build a concrete pavement from building premises entry to entrance of library
Resolve the problem of water blockage
Repaint the whole building
Increase the aesthetic sense of the building
Replace the outdated furniture of the building
Make the building accessible to differently-abled population
Revise and update the labelling and cataloguing of the books in the book rack
Resolve the legal conflict related to the building maintenance rights

If schools are temple of education then libraries are banks of education. Thus government needs to give appropriate attention to the upliftment of library culture in the society