Tanushri Kadam

FD4005

Library by definition means “a building or room containing collections of books, periodicals, and sometimes films and recorded music for use or borrowing by the public or the members of an institution.” Library as an institution is one of the oldest which has also evolved with time. These days the libraries tend to have reading rooms and computers to help people study/read or even surf the net for necessary information which they cannot find in the books. Public libraries are of huge advantage to students who need to study for long hours but cannot find a suitable environment. There is a peaceful partially formal environment provided by the libraries at free of cost for a longer period of time. Hence students utilise these libraries to study for hours for their respective exams/ subjects. They require basic amenities like a study table, a comfortable chair, drinking water and toilet. All these are provided by the public libraries. Every library also has a reading room provided for the specific purpose of studying. These rooms are mostly occupied by students between 20-30 years of age. The students tend to spend 5-6 hours at an average in these reading rooms. The government public libraries studied for this particular project somehow did not seem to have suitable reading rooms. The ambient lighting provided in the reading rooms, mostly in the form of pendant lights is not sufficient as they cast shadows on the book while reading. The angle and intensity of light required for reading and writing should be sufficient enough not to cause strain to the eyes. As these students read for long hours, keeping a healthy upper body posture is very important. The human body posture usually depends on the activity being performed. Keeping a healthy posture for reading means, the surface where the book is kept should be brought near the eyes. Instead, it was observed that the students tend to go near the books, which results in the students hunching over. This posture causes a rounding (hyperkyphosis) of the thoracic spine and a straightening (hyperlordosis) of the cervical spine. Furthermore, the notice boards layout insufficient information regarding the regulations, as all the information is put up very crudely. The intention is to provide furniture that helps the student to study for a longer period of time without any pain in the body or any kind of strain to the eyes.