The first thing that caught Shourjya Samanta’s eye as he took a walk inside the library at the American Center after two years was the revamped section on the American Constitution; there was a copy of the document itself!
“Once you are navigating the library in person, you can actually see a lot more books than when you are going through an online catalogue,” said Shourjya, a third-year BA student of economics at Jadavpur University.
A part and parcel of the lives of many college-goers in Kolkata, the library at American Center on J.L. Nehru Road reopened after two years in the first week of April, maintaining Covid-19 safety precautions.
“It’s a really joyous moment for all of us. We are allowing about 25 people in here on a first-come-first-serve basis. We are also expecting them to self-attest that they have been vaccinated. While here, social distancing standards continue. We expect people to wear masks and to respect the distance. We have plexiglass installed to make sure the staff and our patrons are safe,” American Center director Adrian Pratt told us during a walk-through of the renovated library.
American Center director Adrian Pratt in the newly stocked library
What’s new?
The library has stocked up on more books and diversified its collections. On entering, you will be greeted by rows of periodicals, journals, and books on subjects like computer science, public administration, criminal justice and American literature. There are around 12,000 titles, 60 periodicals and 1,300 DVDs that can be browsed and even borrowed by members.
A major addition has been the diversification of the American Literature collection to incorporate different voices. “We have a new focus called New Voices in American Literature and a sub-focus of that is immigrant authors. America is a country that’s evolving and changing and we want our collection of literary authors to reflect that,” said Pratt.
The library has a collection of over 1,300 DVDs
Khushbu Jaiswal, a first-year master’s student of English literature at Aligarh Muslim University, has been a member for the past three years and is excited about the revamp. “Now I’m getting excellent titles on LGBTQIA+ literature. There’s a lot of migrant literature as well. They have all the critical books that you need to enhance your knowledge and prepare for examinations like UGC NET, GRE and SAT,” Khushbu said.
Browse the library online
During the pandemic, the library at American Center offered online newspapers, magazines, academic research papers, English language learning resources and video streaming content to its members. These were accessible sitting at home.
A visitor looks up the online catalogue at the library
With the library now open for in-person visits, the virtual catalogue needs to be accessed from the library space. “During the pandemic, our members checked things out from the virtual library. Lots of newspapers, magazines, educational publications, dissertations. We allowed people to browse through them, especially when they were stuck at home. We are under discussions at the moment to see whether we are going to continue that,” Pratt added.
The pandemic also made some, like Subharthi Chatterjee, feel the need for physical libraries. “I had only free resources but they were not quality resources. That made me realise how important having a library is. Now I can come here, browse, have group discussions and read materials,” said the third-year comparative literature student of Jadavpur University.
Comparative literature student Subharthi Chatterjee checks out the American literature and criticism section
A book club for all
A book club was set up in the last two years to engage young minds with newer reads and trends in American literature. You can get information about book club meetings from the library helpdesk. The best part is, you do not have to be a member to take part in the literary discussions. These discussions were being held virtually and might soon be offline too.
“The motto of the book club was to introduce new voices in American literature. We wanted to concentrate on who are writing now and why it is relevant. We included diasporic authors and Black American authors. We decide on a book and meet virtually to discuss it,” said Srijita Chakraborty, a postgraduate in English Literature from Presidency University who has been associated with the book club since the beginning.
Student groups are coming back to the library to browse and read
The library at American Center is now opening up to physical events. “We want this to be a place where we can bring people together for safe discussions. We are sort of reimagining what a library looks like in the modern age,” Pratt signed off.
Here’s how to be a member of the library at American Center:
- Drop by the Library at 38A JL Nehru Road between 10am and 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday
- Ask the helpdesk for a membership form or email Kolkataamlibrary@state.gov
- Fill in the details
- You can avail individual/ family/ institutional memberships
- Pay the minimal enrolment fees
- Browse books on-ground and through the e-catalogue
- You can borrow up to four books, two journals and one DVD for three weeks. This can be renewed over phone or email. This is under consideration and the rules might change in the future.
