Our school has a magnificent library.It has as many as forty thousand selected books on a variety of subjects. It is housed in the school hall. There are long lines of shelves and almirahs containing books. There is a big reading room also. In it, there are several long tables with cane chairs on either side of them.
On them are placed magazines of all kinds, catering to the various tastes. There are magazines and journals in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. There are several newspaper stands where the daily papers are fixed with the help of metallic strips.
Electric fans and tubes are provided in the hall. Curtains are drawn over the windows. When a student wants to draw a book from the library, he consults the catalogue, fills in the name and the number of the book, and the name of the author in the chit and puts it into the box. The book is then issued to him.
The library is a part and parcel of the school. The scene in the school library is inspiring. It shows that, among a section of our students, there is a real desire to read independently. At the counter all through the day stand rows of students consulting catalogues and requisitioning books.
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At the tables eager young scholars are deeply absorbed in their studies or busy taking notes from the books before them. The silence is infectious; even a boy in the habit of talking feels shy of breaking it and restrains his habit of gossip. When scholars are busy, the unscholarly are shamed into silence.
To be able to move freely in a world of books is one of the privileges of modern education. A student has the freedom of the school library.
There he can follow his own bent. Once he has acquired a taste for reading, he will gather knowledge from books by a process as natural as breathing. He must do this under the guidance and supervision of his teacher.
In our school library, we have, quite a large number of books on general knowledge. They give us real enjoyment. They open out to us vast treasures of knowledge, new ideas, and new horizons. The students develop a wide outlook and do not remain a frog in the well. Books are the accumulated wisdom of the past centuries and lucky is the man who has the chance to read them.
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Our Headmaster, who is himself a voracious reader and great lover of books, is always on the look-out for the latest books on literature, science, mathematics, history and general knowledge. All the books that are reviewed in the important papers from time to time are purchased for the school library which is kept up-to-date.
The library is put in the charge of a qualified and trained librarian. He is of great help to the students who seek his advice and help freely. He is not only the keeper and controller of the library but also a guide to the students. He keeps the library in perfect order.
Manifold are the services rendered by a school library. It spreads knowledge. It helps the students supplement their narrow and limited knowledge acquired through the school text books. A library helps a student beguile his time.
Here he can remain closeted with Tagore or Iqbal, Gandhi or Nehru, Churchill or Shaw, for hours. Here he can absorb the thoughts, feelings and ideas of the master-minds of the world and drink deep at the fountain of knowledge.
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The true function of a school library is to create in the minds of the students a taste for good and wholesome books, books which will advance knowledge, provide clean food for the intellect and contribute to the moral and spiritual well being of its readers.