The British Council Library in Bengaluru shut down physical operations in June 2020, but a digital avatar is thriving online.
A landmark in Bengaluru, the physical library moved from a building on St Mark’s Road (above Koshy’s) for 42 years before it moved to Kasturba Road in 2002.
For Bengalureans, the library is now completely online. Physical British Council Libraries are functioning only in Delhi, Chennai, and Kolkata.
Three months into the pandemic lockdown, the library rolled out its app My LOFT (My Library on Fingertips) for Android and iOS to take its offerings to members reluctant to step out of their homes. “Supplemented by the app, our digital library membership and usage have seen steady growth in access and use. Over the last year, our digital library membership has increased by 55 per cent,” says Antonius Raghubansie, director, learning services (India), British Council. Audiobooks saw a rise in popularity during the pandemic, and the app catered to members with age-appropriate titles. Overall borrowing by online members for audiobooks rose by 192 per cent over 2019, he says.
He believes the trend will continue in 2021, as families, professionals and young children are increasingly looking for online resources for reading, education and entertainment.
“Our usage statistics show maximum popularity with the 18 to 45 age group which mostly comprises college students, researchers and working professionals,” he told Metrolife.
On the e-shelves
A digital membership comes for Rs 1,800, and allows you access to a vast range of educational and entertainment resources from the UK.
The digital library offers up to 10,000 ebooks and audiobooks and 11,000 newspapers and magazines from over 100 countries. Magazines on offer include The Economist, New Scientist, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar (UK) and Vogue (UK).
Students get access to books, journals, and ebooks on a host of subjects, with powerful research tools such as JSTOR and ProQuest. Short video tutorials that cover 500 popular software applications are popular.
Members also get access to British Council’s comprehensive, 100 per cent online IELTS preparation course, which includes 350 tasks, 13 video tips and tutorials, and 36 practice tests. IELTS is short for International English Language Testing System.
The British Council launched its digital offerings in 2017, to address the demand for memberships from outside its physical centres, and also to provide content-on-the-go for today’s readers.
“Over the years, the digital library witnessed a steady growth in usage but it showed a massive increase during the pandemic,” explains Raghubansie.
The library’s objective is to create opportunities for young people to succeed in a globalised world, he says.
Members can also attend online workshops that cover self-help, creative writing, and reading challenges.
An upcoming initiative is the ‘Reading for Life Programme’ that encourages children to read at least one book every week from the library’s collection of ebooks, audiobooks and comics.
Throughout the three-week journey, children also get to be a part of expert-curated workshops, and take part in book discussions and review-writing tasks. The next batch begins on April 24.
The next ‘Introduction to Creative Writing’ online course begins on April 10.
Top 10
The top 10 most borrowed books are in the areas of language, literature, history, social sciences, business and management, medicine, law, fine arts, religion, and education.
What you can access
* eBooks across genres
* Academic journals
* Magazines and newspapers
* Comics and graphic novels
* Educational videos
* Expert-curated workshops