The Auroville Library

The Auroville Library, currently located in the Bharat Nivas complex, has been in operation for over 25 years now, housing and lending out a wide selection of books. Today it contains some 18,000 volumes in seven languages - English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch and Russian. By 2001 it is hoped to add a further 1,000 volumes in Tamil. All the books are divided up by subject matter into approximately 60 different sections, including a section specially for children.

The Library meets the needs of some 450 regular and 250 irregular book borrowers within Auroville, plus a number of guests, the latter being permitted to borrow on presentation of a Guest Card. With the addition of the Tamil section, these numbers will obviously increase. On average, at present around 1,300 books are loaned out each month.

In addition to the books, most of which have been donated over the years, or purchased using a relatively small budget which rarely allows for more than 200 new works a year, the Library also maintains a number of subscriptions to weekly and monthly Indian and international journals.

Future plans for the Library include moving it to new and more spacious premises in the projected Auroville Plaza, and the introduction of a computerised programme for listing and keeping track of the books.

....more to come.