Closure of libraries due to the COVID-19 pandemic does not mean that book lovers in Elikkulam, a village in the district, are missing out on their favourite books in dust jackets. The Pamboli Navbharat Library at Elikkulam, a rural library with a collection of just over 2,500 books, has opened a unique Any Time Book (ATB) counter, which enables the local community to read the books of their choice.

The counter, set up at the bus waiting station just outside the library building, offers as many as 200 books of different genres at any given point of time. Explaining the initiative, Thomas Mathew, secretary of the library, said any person, including non-members, visiting the counter could borrow the books after registering their contact details in a book kept nearby.

“They can keep the books home for a maximum of two weeks and will have to either return them or renew the registration. The counter is reloaded with a fresh stock of books on a fortnightly basis,” he said.

Good response

Launched in March, the ATB has received an overwhelming response during the lockdown period with a daily average of 12-15 people making use of the facility.

N.R. Babu Nadappurakil, president of the library, said more than half of the over 300 persons who had borrowed books from the ATB last month was either children or women. “Even at the time of e-books, reading the hard copy is really significant for people, especially during the lockdown,” he said.

Despite being offered without any strings, the library management has noted that all the books issued through the ATB are returned in a time-bound manner. They attribute this positive outcome to the good reading culture.