Yesterday while coming back from office I discovered a library next to the bus stop. I just went in out of curiosity and was really surprised to see a huge collection of english books. Registration is free and I can take 4 books at a time. This was free too. Not just that. They have an internet cafe and browsing is free again. You can return the books in a months time. They have some good movies as well, but the movie rental is 10SEK for 3 days. Not that costly.
Importantly, this library is maintained by the government. If I register in one library I can access all libraries in Göteborg. The staff were very polite and friendly and they speak very good english. Luckily almost everyone in Sweden speaks good english. Just that nothing is written in english though!
And hey. Guess I need to visit this 
on 08 Jun 2006 at 2:01 pm # Bindu
Would this day ever come in India??
on 08 Jun 2006 at 2:55 pm # Karthik
Goteberg sounds to be a haven for book-worms like me
Should ask my company to undertake some project there. Till that time Lucky u 
on 08 Jun 2006 at 3:01 pm # ramya
if u gotta go you gotta go, man! summa, blog la speculate pannitu ukanthitirukeenga!
on 08 Jun 2006 at 11:03 pm # S...
The libraries are just awesome in the USA as well. They have thousands of books, music cds, videos, movies, etc and all are for free.. They are run by Govt.. And the place where I live, they even have Indian (Tamil) books/movies/music CDs, etc.. From Kalki, Lakshmi, Kanndadhasan to Sujatha.. Lucky me..
on 08 Jun 2006 at 11:05 pm # S...
Forgot to mention, even in India, they do have govt run libraries which are almost free(some 4-5 bucks per card some 10 years back) .. In Dindigul library, they used to have all the classic English books as well as great collection of Tamil movies..
on 09 Jun 2006 at 12:42 am # priya
Enjoi maadi
on 09 Jun 2006 at 3:26 am # WA
Bindu this day will come in India when the public are happy enough to pay the high taxes that the Swedes pay
on 09 Jun 2006 at 11:46 am # Ram
Incidence of nonreturn of library books is the biggest problem in India - most of the government libraries in Tamilnadu mark a book which has a price tag of Rs.100 or over
as “reference” and allow only one book to be taken at a time, instead of the normal three — and for an annual subscription of Rs.10/00 I would say our district libraries are not bad — and you will be surprised they now have computers which you can use for Rs.15/00 a net hour — the problems I face are bad upkeep, no proper tagging or classification and promotion of tamil books only mostly.
on 09 Jun 2006 at 12:12 pm # Ze
In Singapore the library facility is pretty good. Basic Library ,embership is free for citizens, Permanent residents and Work Pass holders need to pay Annual fee for the Basic membership which allows us to borrow up to 4 books/Mags/CD-Roms for a period of up to 21 days! before which the items must be returned or renewed.
Premium membership which costs S$21/Yr allows us to borrow 4 additional items including DVDs/VCD/CD/Video tapes….
Cheers
Ze
on 09 Jun 2006 at 5:46 pm # F e r r a r i
Bindu,
Population is very less here. So easy to manage
Karthik,
Vaanga. Vandhu jothila ikkiyam aagidunga
ramya,
Err. Naan dapple meaning mean pannalai
S,
No tamil books here. Hmmm
priya,
WA,
Oh yes. The taxes are very high. But then the government takes care of everything for them right from birth till death.
Ram,
Very true sir!
Ze,
Here its open for all. No need to be a citizen or work permitan or business visan. Cheaper than singapore. For books no money. Only for movies. That too only 10 SEK
on 13 Jun 2006 at 1:10 am # neha
Its the same in US but everyone who files a tax return also pays library tax. In the order of 100s of dollars per year. With such a huge amount of tax money just for the library it is not a wonder to have such public libraries.
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