NU ‘chucks out’ 35+ job seekers from its libraries

Nagpur: First time in the 100-year-old history of Nagpur University and its knowledge resource centre (KRC) having a collection of over 4.23 lakh books, many of which are from 18th and 19th century, the management council has fixed the upper age limit at 35 years for competitive exam aspirants seeking membership.
Established in 1923, the university has Dr VB Kolte Knowledge Resource Centre (KRC) in Ramdaspeth and another one PV Narasimha Rao KRC on the campus off Amravati Road.
The two NU libraries have thousands of books, journals, study material and publications which have helped generations of students in acquiring knowledge and preparing for various exams.
The age restriction has been imposed only for ‘K’ category membership under which competitive exam aspirants fall. The KRCs classify knowledge seekers into five categories, including students enrolled in postgraduate departments, PG students in affiliated colleges, PhD scholars, competitive exam aspirants and short-term users. No age limit on other category members has been fixed.
Under ‘K’ category too, an applicant needs to have completed his post-graduation and must be appearing in a competitive exam for getting the membership.
The decision was taken following heavy rush of readers at the KRCs. The Ramdaspeth KRC has a seating capacity of 150, including 52 for ‘K’ category members. The campus KRC has seating capacity for 80, including 28 for ‘K’ category.
Both the KRCs had 1,351 members under all categories in 2022-23. Fresh membership is granted every year on July 1, when new academic year starts.
The management council was of the view that ‘K’ category members have been utilizing the library resources over the years while newcomers were not getting a fair chance because of limited seats.
The membership is offered on first-come-first-served basis. The council wanted to give better opportunity of utilizing the library resources to those between 25 and 35 years of age in ‘K’ category.
Those above 35 can still avail membership under ‘L’ category, which is for a month only.
Above-35 users would be allowed to seek KRC membership if they are enrolled as PG students from NU departments, affiliated colleges or are pursuing PhD. PG courses in Ambedkar Thoughts, Gandhian Thoughts, Pali Prakrit generally have students in advanced age groups.
“We are only implementing the decision of the management council. I feel it is a good decision for students. Those above 35 can always seek membership under ‘L’ category in case they are preparing for any exam,” said Vijay Khandal, director, KRC.