I walked through the aisles and found few interesting books to read. I walked up to the reception to enquire the process to check out books. The lady was extremely friendly, gave me a small piece of paper and pen, asked me to fill in the basic details like name, address, contact number and so on. It took 2 minutes to fill and another 2 minutes for her to generate a library card for me. She didn't ask me for an ID.
I asked her details on the Library's check out policy. She told me that i can check out 12 books at a time. Each book for a maximum period of 3 weeks. The late fee per book per day is 20p. I checked out three books yesterday. I asked her if i have to pay deposit money. She politely said "no" and reminded me that the money becomes due only when i do not return the books on time.
I went back home and started thinking about the whole experience to pick a few points that we can discuss:
1. Trust was the basic premise over which the membership was granted.
2. The whole experience was a very positive one. It took less than 4 minutes for the entire process from start to finish.
3. The Library is funded by the Local Council from the council tax we pay them every month (Council Tax is equivalent to Property tax that we pay the municipality in India)
4. The objective of the Library is to reach out to as many local residents as possible and spread the wealth of knowledge through shared assets (books, audio and video files).
5. Would the process of asking for a deposit, asking for an ID proof hinder the process of achieving its objective - I think YES.
6. Will a similar approach work in India - I am not entirely certain. The initial apprehension is that people will check out 12 books and never come back. But i am sure you all agree that we need to start somewhere.
Your thoughts / feedback welcome - as always.
Nandu, I agree that it got to start somewhere. To keep growing in any aspect, we got to take some risk. Taking risk becomes more comfortable when we have abundance; in this case at least sufficient funds/finaces not to risk a bare library with no books. Do we have public libraries in India where we can check-out books?! If we have, what can we do from our side to encourage this kind of trust building happening at Indian Libraries. If we don't have or don't have many public libraries, can we do something to make it happen?!!!
ReplyDeleteIndian's are trustworthy like any other country citizens. In 2004, Reader's Digest conducted a survey in 32 cities across the world. They kept 36 cell phones in public places. 24 cell phones were recovered in Mumbai. We tied for 5th spot along with New York city and Philippines!
ReplyDeleteMore than trust, it is institutions which are responsible for delivering these systems would make the difference.