At a time when libraries across the world are slowly turning digital, the 'physical' book has found an unlikely champion back home: the laptop-toting hi-tech crowd of Hyderabad. Contrary to popular perception, a large section of these time-pressed working professionals are trying to keep the tradition of the book reading alive and are increasingly seen making their way to private libraries located in and around their homes and offices.
Not surprisingly then, there are close to a dozen private libraries dotting the Cyberabad landscape today, each flaunting a membership of 750 to 1,000. A handful among them, in fact, has as many as 2,000 or more patrons!
Walk into these places in the evening and one is sure to return impressed with the number of adults and children walking between rows of bookshelves, checking out new books, requesting for the ones their friends recommended or simply picking them out at random to take home.
While librarians admit that their business is still recovering from the digital boom that led to the emergence of their arch nemesis e-books they claim that predictions suggesting the death of libraries are wildly exaggerated. A case in point are these city libraries, each of which witnesses around 300 books being borrowed on a daily basis, compelling them to add roughly 10,000 titles to their collection every two months. This, librarians explain, points to the existence of a significant population of readers who still prefer to read actual books than e-books.
Akhil Kamalasan, assistant marketing manager (South India) of JustBooks, a Bangalore-based chain of libraries, revealed that their book-delivery services, through which members can borrow and return books from their homes, are very popular in Hyderabad.
Librarians in the city have also identified the emergence of a new breed of readers - the millenials (born between the 1980s and early 2000s) -- many of whom spent their early years glued to television screens and who are now trying to catch up on their reading. While authors like Amish Tripathi and Chetan Bhagat are common names among this section of readers, popular series like The Hunger Games and A Song Of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin have also caught their fancy.
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Not surprisingly then, there are close to a dozen private libraries dotting the Cyberabad landscape today, each flaunting a membership of 750 to 1,000. A handful among them, in fact, has as many as 2,000 or more patrons!
Walk into these places in the evening and one is sure to return impressed with the number of adults and children walking between rows of bookshelves, checking out new books, requesting for the ones their friends recommended or simply picking them out at random to take home.
While librarians admit that their business is still recovering from the digital boom that led to the emergence of their arch nemesis e-books they claim that predictions suggesting the death of libraries are wildly exaggerated. A case in point are these city libraries, each of which witnesses around 300 books being borrowed on a daily basis, compelling them to add roughly 10,000 titles to their collection every two months. This, librarians explain, points to the existence of a significant population of readers who still prefer to read actual books than e-books.
Akhil Kamalasan, assistant marketing manager (South India) of JustBooks, a Bangalore-based chain of libraries, revealed that their book-delivery services, through which members can borrow and return books from their homes, are very popular in Hyderabad.
Librarians in the city have also identified the emergence of a new breed of readers - the millenials (born between the 1980s and early 2000s) -- many of whom spent their early years glued to television screens and who are now trying to catch up on their reading. While authors like Amish Tripathi and Chetan Bhagat are common names among this section of readers, popular series like The Hunger Games and A Song Of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin have also caught their fancy.
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