With funding to the departmental libraries in the University of Madras being drastically cut, students are forced to seek out expensive facilities in the city.
A research scholar said: “The library lacks books on some subjects and internet here is erratic. We are forced to seek other better-stocked facilities though the admission fee is higher. Though the fee for the British Council or the American Consulate library is high, the books there are in good condition,” the scholar said. The data for the five-year period of 2008 and 2013, displayed at the Chepauk library entrance, shows that fewer research scholars used the facilities for their thesis. Only 3,978 research students tried to access books between 2010 and 2011, which fell to 2,665 the next year and 2,800 in 2012-13.
The University has reduced allocation to the library in Chepauk campus by Rs. 7 lakh. While the departments of archaeology, geography and Indian music have each been allocated only Rs. 10,000, allocations for other departments are lesser. The Department of Adult and Continuing Education received only Rs. 1,000, whereas the Department of Jainology and Saiva Siddhantha received Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 5,000 respectively.
“Books in our subjects are expensive and some good ones would cost as much as Rs. 2,000. Our books are all about sketches so we need more allocation,” said J.D. Balaji, head of the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology. The head of Geography department R. Jaganathan said he did not depend on the University for funding as the University Grants Commission gave them Rs. 53 lakh following its proposal to launch innovative programmes.
“We used a portion of the funds to upgrade our library and to create better infrastructure for students. We are now getting free online journals that our students can use. We set aside Rs. 3 lakh for books,” said department head R. Jaganathan. University registrar P. David Jawahar admitted that the amount allocated to departmental libraries was low.
