Backlog woes dog library

KOLKATA: Language titles have taken a backseat in the country''s largest book repository — the National Library. Research fellows here have little access to valuable documents and books in various Indian languages.
The backlog has piled to a whopping 2,86,392 Indian titles including government documents in English.
The library is not being able to keep pace with English publications as well.It had to take a special drive last month to clear 20,820 such titles.
Although officials keep on whining about dearth of competent librarians, some of them don''t even do their minimum job. "Despite a vacancy, one group C staff has cleared all the backlog in the Gujarati section," said one of the officials.
Apart from this, many readers have volunteered for cataloguing. Documents include various official proceedings like debates in Parliament and other government communication, decision, orders and records, which are of great importance to researchers and for future references.
"Recently, the government referred to a 19th century government record at the Jaikrishna Library in Uttarpara to resolve a legal dispute" said a library official, highlighting the importance of such documents. "I wanted a recent publication for my research, which they told me was not available.
But I found it round the corner. When I took it up with the authorities, I was told that it was not for reference," said a research scholar of Burdawan University. The authorities are mum. "There is nobody who can do the job now. To catalogue a book, one has to go through the contents and therefore must have an understanding of the language and there is a staff shortage. Computerisation has begun which, we hope, will solve the problem," said officer on special duty, R. Bhattacharya.