From The Hindu, April 10, 1925: Poor libraries of India

At the opening of the exhibition of manuscripts books and library material held in connection with the Hoogly District Library Conference at Bansberia, the delegates were addressed by Mr. Chapman, Librarian of the Imperial Library, Calcutta. The following is the substance of Mr. Chapman’s speech: “We have in India not a single library that can for a moment be compared with the chief libraries in the countries with which India ranks in size and importance, and in many quite small countries, such as Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, there are more libraries than I can count, which, in buildings, quantity of books, staff, catalogues and indexes, are infinitely above the best we can show in India.”