Books, readership and libraries in India

[Richard Menec <menecraj@SHAW.CA>]

FYI
An interesting article on the state of books, readership and libraries in
India

<<During the last four decades, the percentage of the American population
having public library cards has increased almost three fold from about 25 to
72. On the contrary, in a progressive state like Karnataka, after 40 years
of enacting a comprehensive Public Libraries Act and establishing 5,000
libraries, we have not been able to reach more than 2% of the population.>>

<<An interesting fact is that 95% of books sold in America are bought
directly by individuals and the remaining 5% by libraries. A library member
in America, on an average, borrows two books per year and astonishingly this
borrowed use of books of American libraries is almost equal to 95% of books
directly bought and read by individuals.>>

<<Even today, one can instantly access from anywhere details of a large
number of Kannada books (over 15,000) from online catalogues of US Library
of Congress, British Library or 'WorldCat' of OCLC (US) on the net and not
from web sites of any local library including the national library.>>

Article at:
<http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jan242008/dheducation2008012348187.asp>

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