Knowledge Portals that I like visiting (part 2)

 Kishore C.S. (August 2001)

 Read Part 1 of this article

 B.Tech Days at Andhra University

As I started at Andhra University Engineering College, I had access to three libraries: Andhra University Main Library, Engineering Library, Department Library.

Department library contained only limited number of books and is open only during college hours and I rarely used to visit. But some of my classmates used to frequent to this library to read. If we get a break while we used to go to Hostel which is within walking distance. (After I completed my education and got a job, I donated my B.Tech text books to the department library where they would be useful to someone. I will remember this as one of my good things I have done in life)

Engineering Library located in our engineering college was in a separate building and I preferred visiting Main Library for my regular visits. I did loan some technical books from this library and used to visit only to return books.

My Favorite library

Main Library of AU has been my favorite place for the 4 years of stay.  This library was biggest I have been till that time and I was impressed. It had different sections and book collection was very good. I used to visit the library at an average of 3-4 times a week. The frequency was high during exams period. Text book section was most frequently visited where we can borrow text books for reading. If we didn't purchase the costly text books, we can get to read them in this section. This was very useful.

Besides this I also found other sections of library very interesting. I wanted to take advantage of the good library. I read quite a few books from Fiction section during this period. I visited Reference Section and used to browse through Encyclopedia available there. I was possessed with a desire to expand my knowledge and starting Reading Encyclopedia Britannica. Later I realized that I can't manage to read Encyclopedia and gave up that task. This library also had old periodicals section which I used to visit to see how old journals looks compared to the new editions. I checked magazines like India Today in 1970s and so on.

Anyone for Coffee

Coffee stall outside this library was an addiction to all of us. We eagerly looked forward to having hot coffee served by the coffee stall. Not only the coffee was good, we get a chance to take a break. Any invitation from friends to join for coffee was welcome and sometimes we used to have 3-4 doses of coffee while spending time at library. We sit under the shade of tree, sip coffee and talk. I still cherish those days. Main Library used to be around 20 minutes walk from our hostel and we need to walk through botany garden of the university. So most of the time we used to go in batches to library and the walk was not boring. During summer, the walk among the trees after lunch almost tempted us to go to sleep in the cool breeze and shade they offered.

Not content with all these facilities I used to visit another rental book stall to rent latest fiction books. I did this in my final year when I had a two wheeler which my friend Pala and I bought. This allowed me to return books on time. This library was near Vizag bus station.

We also used to have a reading room in the hostel which contains recent magazines and everyday newspapers. But I was not a frequent visitor to this.

M.Tech Days at IIT Kanpur

After B.Tech at AU I moved to IIT Kanpur. I used to visit Main library frequently. Comparatively Computer Lab was more attractive than Main Library but I still used to visit library frequently. I used to loan non-fiction and technical books at this time. I also used to go to library for studies. During Exams the library used to be packed and I preferred not to visit library during these periods.

At hostel we had a hostel library which attracted me a lot. This library had very good collection of fiction books. This was managed by hostel inmates as voluntary work. I read lot of novels during this 1.5 years at IIT Kanpur. I became volunteer to manage this library. I wanted to contribute to this library in my own way and even contested hostel elections. But I lost the election. But that didn't discourage me. I still did my best. I volunteered and took help of a few others. We took time to prepare catalogue for all 1500+ books. This took quite sometime. After every one was I prepared a single catalogue and printed this and kept in the library. I continued to my volunteer work for quite sometime along with my classmates. I used to complete dinner early so that we can keep the hostel library open on time at 7.30 PM. I enjoyed this period a lot.

IIT hostel not only had this library but also a reading room. This reading room was better equipped than the reading room we had during B.Tech days. Magazine section used to contain very good books and this reading room was occupied most of the day.

I thought I will be able to complete this article in 2 parts, but as I write I realize my association with libraries is more than what I imagined.