Nobody's in the library ; As visitors decline, both traditional libraries and start-ups put catalogues online and begin delivering books at home, says Saranya Kapur.

Once upon a time, before the rise of the Internet and theemergence of hundreds of television channels, the library was wherepeople went for both information and entertainment. It was here theylearnt about global events, or were transported to distant lands.But then the library became a victim of rapidly changing lifestyles,and was on the verge of being wiped out. That is until itrediscovered itself in a new avatar: the online library.

Putting library catalogues online is now a growing trend, withseveral start-ups offering the service, and some traditionallibraries following suit. In February 2010, the British CouncilLibrary, or BCL, at Mumbai's Nariman Point, arguably the best-knownlibrary in the city, opted to close down and focus entirely on itsonline service. With online libraries sprouting all over India, aretraditional libraries becoming obsolete?

Yes, says Hiten Turakhia, one of the founders of the Mumbai-based librarywala. com, the country's first online library service."Due to busy schedules, fewer people are willing to spend theirprecious free time travelling to a library," he says. "This is whereonline libraries come in, where the books are delivered at yourdoorstep."

Librarywala.com started its services in 2007 and soon expanded toBangalore, Pune and Mysore. It stores 25,000 unique titles inEnglish and six regional languages, and has 11,000 active members.After paying a registration fee, members can choose from 19 readingplans, depending on what suits them, and pay a refundable deposit onthe books they borrow.

"Reading has become an expensive habit and we aim to make itaffordable and convenient," says Turakhia. "With free home deliveryand cheap plans, online libraries have the potential to make readingaccessible to everyone." Librarywala.com also plans to start amobile service through which customers can order books by sendingSMSes. "With the rollout of the SMS service, we can reach out tothose people who are not very Net savvy," he adds. A similar modelis followed by doorstepbooks. com, a Kolkata-based startup.

But this one goes one step further - by delivering books to Tier-II cities in West Bengal using courier services. The demand in suchsmall cities, still, is not high, says Vikash Khandelwal, founder ofdoorstepbooks.com. "In small towns life is not as fast-paced as itis in the metros. The options for entertainment are also limited.People still enjoy going to the library and picking up books."

Mobility is also not a problem, compared to the metros, wherepeople may have to put up with heavy traffic or use crowded publictransport to make a trip to the library. Most of his customers arefamilies subscribing to the library for the children, or peopleabove 40.

Khandelwal does not believe online libraries can ever completelyreplace physical libraries even in large cities. "The clienteleonline libraries cater to is different. People have very differentreading habits. Many young working professionals either do not havethe time to read or have moved on to e-books. Similarly, people whotruly enjoy visiting a brick-and-mortar library will continue to doso whether an online option exists or not," he says.

Going Online

librarywala.com

Founded in: 2007

Operating in: Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Mysore

bookmeabook.com

Founded in: 2007

Operating in: Delhi

doorstepbooks.com

Founded in: 2009

Operating in: 29 towns and cities, including metros

iloveread.in

Founded in: 2009

Operating in: ChennaiBoth Turakhia and Khandelwal find that thedemand for online libraries is highest among schoolgoing children.Indeed, Chennaibased iloveread.in even has a special plan to targetsecondary schools in the city, apart from its retail plans forindividuals. It supplements books in the school library and has full-time storytellers on board to run weekly programmes in schoolscomprising activities like storytelling, book readings, alternativestory endings and writing letters to the author, among others. SaysSahil Gore, one of the founders of iloveread.in: "Children pick upreading instantly, if it is introduced to them as fun, and ouractivities are designed to do exactly that."

Mumbai's BCL leads the pack of traditional libraries that havedeveloped a Net presence as well. Abhishek Chandan, Head of'mylibrary', BCL's online initiative, says the reason for goingonline was the topographical constraints Mumbai's residents have todeal with. "The BCL was located in the extreme south, while the citywas growing linearly northward," he says. "The business districttoo, which earlier was concentrated in the south, has now movednorth." This was reflected in BCL's customer base, which has been indecline over the last two decades, from 28,000 in the early 1990s to3,600 in 2009.

After carrying out extensive surveys, BCL launched mylibrary in2010 with the help of Tata Consultancy Services as a softwarepartner. After a year of operation, the online service - availableon www. mylibrary.britishcouncil.org - now has around 3,500 members.Depending on the plan a customer chooses, mylibrary charges aslittle as Rs 35 for a book. It has around 18,000 unique titles,including rare books and e-books.

Even small, mom-and-pop libraries seem to have realised thatextending their presence online is essential. Ram Gopal Sharma andSons, a family-run library in Delhi's Connaught Place, has beenaround since the 1930s. In 2007, however, it decided to open anonline library, bookmeabook.com. Nidhi Verma, who runs the onlineoperation, says: "The library in CP used to be extremely populartill a few decades ago. But as the area's profile changed, ourcustomers began to move to satellite cities like Gurgaon andGhaziabad. It was no longer feasible for them to travel the distanceto the library." Bookmeabook. com currently has between 600 and 800members, most of whom are school children and retired people.

With almost everybody, including companies, today having blogs,facebook pages and twitter accounts, online libraries too depend onsocial media to reach out to their customers and generate buzz.While bookmeabook.com relies on its facebook and twitter pages forannouncements, librarywala.com and mylibrary have an active onlinecommunity where people discuss and review books, thus creating acommunity atmosphere which could otherwise be had only in a physicalspace. Gore of iloveread.in, however, has a different take. "Socialmedia doesn't work as well for reading compared to otherbusinesses," he says. Some like iloveread.in provide links to Amazonand Google Books reviews of its books, and creates community spiritthrough events like its annual 'Mad Librarian's Tea Party', withmusical performances and storytelling sessions, where customers getto know one another and the team.

So, while online libraries may not replace physical librariesaltogether, they are definitely here to stay.