Source : The New Indian Express – Ritwika Mitra
The Akademi, which opened its first-ever bookstore outside their premises at the Kashmere Gate Metro Station in 2015, will collaborate with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to open bookstores.
NEW DELHI: With the Sahitya Akademi planning to come up with bookstores at metro stations, Delhiwaalas can now read books during their daily commute that will take them through the proverbial looking glass. The Akademi, which opened its first-ever bookstore outside their premises at the Kashmere Gate Metro Station in 2015, will collaborate with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to open a bookstore at three more metro stations — Rajiv Chowk, Noida and Gurgaon. The store will give readers access to a very wide array of English and Indian language books to choose from.
The Akademi has also revealed plans to open a reading library next to its bookstore at the Kashmere Gate Metro Station. “We have asked the DMRC to provide the Akademi with space next to the bookstore at the Kashmere Gate Metro Station. Open space will encourage people to read and will inculcate reading culture. The Akademi will maintain the library once it the required space is approved,” said K Sreenivasarao, Secretary, Sahitya Akademi.
The current library in the Akademi’s official premises boasts a collection of 1,66,000 titles in the 24 officially recognised Indian languages. It also has 200 journals covering a wide range of genres. The Akademi, however, does not have a children’s corner in its premises. To address this, it now plans to add a dedicated children’s corner to its library. “The commercial space for setting up the children’s corner in the premises has been identified. The children’s collections will be added once the corner is ready,” said Sreenivasa Rao.
Book lovers’ paradise
Currently, the Akademi has around 13,500 members enrolled in the library. It sees a daily footfall of around 150 readers every day. The Akademi also has regional libraries in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore.
