Know Your City: At Blr Reads, turning the pages of Bengaluru’s past and present

The idea, she said, was to showcase what a library can be—not just a silent reading space. “We would want it to be more city-centric, so we have a lot of books on Bangalore’s history, culture and design. We also have books on architecture, history, culture, the humanities, etc. and a large collection of maps, journals and magazines. We hope to host a lot of reading groups, discussions, workshops for children. Basically, we want it to be a very interactive space regarding issues focused on Bangalore,” Roshini said.

Of its collection of around 500 books drawn from the archives of the Mod Foundation, around 100 are specifically on Bengaluru. (Express Photo)

For researchers of Bengaluru’s cityscape and history lovers, several books could be of particular interest. T P Issar’s The City Beautiful, a rare out-of-print book that deals with the architectural heritage of the city, is one such gem.

“Most of the books we have on Bangalore are first editions that are out of print. We have some personal family memoirs. We also have some of the earlier editions of Janaki Nair’s books,” Roshini said, referring to the author who has documented the history of Bengaluru and Mysuru.

The library also aims to function as a public engagement space, with reading groups set to begin shortly. Recently, it hosted an exhibition titled ‘Re-Reading Bangalore’, featuring excerpts from books on Bengaluru that explore its various aspects, archival maps and images, depictions of the city in regional cinema, and extracts from personal memoirs.

The library is open on weekdays from 10 am to 6 pm for members. The membership details can be found on the website.

Visits are normally scheduled in advance to ensure that research material is set aside and made available.