Lending libraries in Madurai hope to tide through tough times post lockdown

Owners of libraries say that even though they have reopened now, there are not many customers coming in

A file photograph of customers at a lending library in Madurai. Photograph used for representational purposes only

Owners of lending libraries in Madurai say that though there might be an uptick in reading during the COVID-19 lockdown, only a few customers have been making their way to physically pick up books. This has hurt many such businesses.

T. R. Surya Preethy, who runs Jonathan Lending Library in K. K. Nagar, says that only 50% of the customers who usually walk into their library have been coming to pick up books since their library opened on May 11. “Usually during the summer, our members from S. S. Colony and Kalavasal come to pick up books. This time though, not many have been coming. Only those living in K. K. Nagar have arrived," she says.

Usha Shenbagaraj’s Dheepam Lending Library opened only two days ago, she says but adds that generally they have been witnessing a declining trend of reading and that it has affected her business. “In the last two months, people have been glued to their phones. Books, movies and television series are all available on the same device. This makes it difficult to sustain a lending library as there are few memberships,” she says.

Ms. Shenbagaraj says that when she decided to close the library on March 19 before the lockdown and offered no fine for the entire period, several members came to pick up books. “Usually, books must be returned within two weeks to avoid fines. No one knew how long the lockdown would last for, so they arrived in bulk. From May 15 onwards, a number of people called and asked to borrow books,” she says.

T. S. Govarthanan who runs Readabit.in says that since their library has predominantly depended on delivering books, they have been successful. “In the last month, we have gotten five new memberships. We have realised that delivering home is the way to sustain the business,” he says.

S. Swaminathan, advisor at Society for the Advancement of Library and Information Science, says that it is unlikely that public libraries wil become obsolete due to COVID-19 but says that there might be losses. People who read Tamil are still heavily dependent on lending libraries, he says.