Century-old Karnataka Central Library to log on to digital age

Bengaluru: A century old structure, retaining its old world charm right in the middle of IT city, the State Central Library is all set to log on to the digital age. In its run up to commemorate its 100th anniversary on September 16, the library, located at Cubbon Park, will be introducing internet browsing facility and provide e-books, from next month.

“Visitors can browse the internet for a nominal fee of Rs 10 per hour. This will be useful to students who refer to the books for competitive exams. They can access, download and take printouts of additional information they find on the net. They will have the added benefit of reading from e books,” said Satish Kumar, Director of the State Central Library.

“This will definitely help visitors to this library. If we use the books, we can’t take them home to read because borrowing isn’t allowed. If we read on the internet, we can save the information through printouts or send it to our phones and read from that, wherever we go," said Samara Reddy, a high school History teacher, who likes to visit the library to read mythological books like The Mahabharata.

Apart from providing internet facility, they also plan to add audio-CDs, to accompany the existing Braille books, making the library even more disabled friendly. “We have sent a request for these audio-CDs, to the Union Government and will soon receive them,” Satish Kumar said. With the introduction of internet facility and free audio CDs, the library would attract more young visitors.