Blown to Bits: Online Library

The British Council library in Mumbai is becoming the country’s first major library to go online.

The British Council library in Mumbai, venue of many a literary event and animated argument, is becoming the country’s first major library to go online. The half-century-old physical library at Nariman Point will cease to exist and its entire archive will be moved online. So members will no longer have to brave Mumbai’s notorious traffic jams to get there. Come January, all they’ll have to do is  log on, choose books and bingo, they’ll be delivered home. Simon Gammell, director of British Council, West India, is upbeat. “I believe we are completely reinventing our services.  We are planning to make 40,000 e-books available. And it could mean the beginning of a major change in the way libraries here function.”  Marielle Morin, director, French Information Resource Centre, Delhi, disagrees. “I think we aren’t finished with the need for the physicality of books or contact with a passionate librarian,” she says.

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Sohini Chattopadhyay