Books galore

THERE ARE 75,000 volumes in over 770 titles catering to the needs of students pursuing mechanical, computer, electronic and electrical engineering, and instrumentation engineering - all at the MV Book Bank. The registration for 2003-04 for engineering students to procure books for the coming semester has begun for engineering students who are studying in the various colleges in and around Chennai.

The engineering library is operating for over eight years, says Saairam, the Director of the Bank, who started the concept along with his college friends and with the help of his family members when he was 18.

Monday, Dec 12, 2005

Bank on this book bank for your needs

MEERA SRINIVASAN

LENDING A HELPING HAND: M.V. Book Bank's long-term lending facility and affordable membership fee has made it a sought-after destination for many engineering students in Chennai. Photo: Vedan

AVAILABILITY OF textbooks has been a major issue for students, particularly those pursuing a course in the engineering discipline. V. Sairam decided to address this need while in his first-year of college and now, he runs a book bank with close to about 1.1 lakh books.

Mr. Sairam and his friends started M.V. Book Bank, 10 years ago. As a first-year student, he had great difficulty in finding the prescribed textbooks in the second-hand market.

"When I was in my first-year, the Rajasthan Youth Association, which provides textbooks for students had a clause which said only students whose fathers earned less than Rs. 60, 000 per annum would be eligible to receive textbooks from the association.

Since my father's annual income was close to Rs. 75,000, I didn't get textbooks. That's when we thought of developing a resource of our own," says Mr. Sairam.

Sairam's book bank has books covering subjects such as engineering, MCA and other IT-related streams. The advantage of his book bank is the long-term lending facility.

"Students can keep the borrowed books for about six months, till their semester exams are over." About 30,000 books are purchased every year and besides lending, staff members at the book bank give suggestions to students.

"Since we are engineers and we have been in this field for 10 years, we suggest and provide additional reading material, too," he says.

No wonder, the book bank has over 7,500 members now. The initial charges for borrowing books amount to Rs. 300 for six books, per semester. "This works out to less than Rs. 2 per day, per book."

Students from as far as Andhra Pradesh travel all the way to pick up books from M.V. Book Bank.

"Data regarding availability of books, members, lending date and date of return is completely computerised. Transaction with students is maintained online, too," he says.

Besides maintaining a huge collection of books, Mr. Sairam organises seminars related to education, for members.

M.V. Book Bank is located at No. 32, East Jones Road, Saidapet,
Chennai 600 015. Phone: 044-24328797.