While Bengaluru has maintained a reputation for being a city of bibliophiles, in the age of e-books and online bookstores, the habit of visiting a public library to search for the answer to a question that eludes you, or borrow a new release, is not something most people do. Many young or new Bengalureans may also not have visited the city’s many historic libraries. It is this that the public library walk conceptualised by The Indian Institute of Human Settlement (IIHS) and supported by Goethe-Institut hopes to change. “With changing circumstances and people talking about war, the economy and a lack of jobs – libraries are always everyone’s last priority. When bookshops or libraries are closed, people show so much disappointment, but they’re closing because people are not coming,” says Sheshagiri Kulkarni, the Head of Information and Library at Goethe-Institut. He adds, “It’s about exposing people to libraries so they are used and to cultivate reading habits. Many come back and get a library subscription after attending a walk”
The walk, which starts with breakfast at Goethe-Institut, will lead participants to The State Central Library, The Mythic Society Library, Alliance Francaise’s library, and finally concludes with lunch at the IIHS, with librarians guiding participants through the libraries, walking them through collections and explaining the curation process. “Librarians will explain in detail about the collections’ histories, they take you around the shelves, show you how to locate the collections, and (in Seshadri Memorial Library/State Central Library) introduce you to their curated collections which are constantly adding new books – specifically on Bengaluru and its history, with maps and other elements. We spend about half an hour to 45 minutes in each library,” explains Kulkarni.
While the walk is not a historical one, with three of the libraries being historic landmarks, previous adventures have led to them getting to see forgotten parts of these landmarks. “Seshadri Memorial Library has a history going back to 1915 with a foundation stone erected when construction began. We went looking for it with help from the library staff and found it in a gated part of the premises,” recalls Kulkarni. Others have discovered libraries that they didn’t realise they walked past every day, as Kulkarni adds, “There were many people on our last walk who walked past The Mythic Society Library every day and didn’t realise the treasure that was there inside.”
(The walk will start at The Goethe-Institut, Indiranagar at 9.30am and conclude at 2pm. Entry is free. For more details log onto library.iihs.co.in)