The British Council libraries in India will soon be deploying `Net Nannies' at its 12 libraries in India to assist its members to use and access information electronically from the Internet.
"We plan to recruit `Net Nannies' who will help the members of the British Council libraries in the usage of Internet for browsing and e-mailing," Colin Perchard, minister, cultural affairs of British Council division of the British High Commission, New Delhi, said.
The libraries in the four metros have already set up cyber centers and have been connected to the Internet. Within the next one year, all the remaining eight libraries are expected to have Internet access and more information electronically.
As part of its expansion plans, as well as to commemorate its near 50 years of operations in India, the British Council plans to set up a new library in Chandigarh, and make its existing libraries more Internet savvy.
Besides books, periodicals and newspapers, the British Council libraries will now provide more information electronically to its members. It plans to have catalogues on services and books available with it on CDs within a year for all the 12 libraries.
"With the coming of the Internet, the book stocks might drop a little in the years ahead and be replaced by electronic information.
However, in the foreseeable future, books will continue to be a bulk of the information that we will provide to our members," Perchard said on the future trends and role that the library plans to play in India.
"Our Internet and electronically provided information is expanding quite rapidly in India and we plan to make substantial investments to provide the necessary facilities to our members," Robert Frost, first secretary, cultural affairs of the British Council, Mumbai, said.
Currently, India has one-third of the worldwide membership of lending services of the British Council Library and also receives the largest subsidy of around
