The Forest Central Library maintained at the Forest Headquarters is planned as a center to cater to the needs of the scholars and public concerned with Environment, Ecology, Forestry, Wildlife and allied disciplines. Serious reading in the specialised library enables one to appreciate, understand and co-operate with the Environmental Conservation Movement.
The library is fully organized for use of all categories of general public, officials, researchers, etc. The Forest Central Library has about 13,000 books which includes books on Forestry, Botany, Zoology, Environmental Science, Agriculture, Management, Administration Reports, Research Reports, Census Reports, Proceedings of the Sree Moolam Popular Assembly, Proceedings of the Sree Chitra Thirunal popular Assembly Proceedings of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, etc. Journals like Current science, Indian Forester, Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, Conservation Biology, Seminar, Ambio, Biotropica, Development and Change, Journal of Wildlife Management, Landscape Ecology, Journal of Forestry etc are available for reference.
The Children’s library is enriched with a good collection of reference books as well as fiction. Moreover, there are many interactive CD’s which are very helpful in the intellectual development of children of all age groups. The reference books include Children’s Britannica , Kingfisher Children’s Encyclopaedia, International Wildlife Encyclopaedia, Student’s Discovery Encyclopaedia , ChildCraft, World Book’s Young Scientists series etc. These books are very helpful to students for preparing project reports as well as to improve their IQ. The collection of fiction also satisfies all age groups. ‘Early world of learning’ series and ‘Welcome to reading’ series of M/s World Book Inc are effective for teaching basic skills of writing and quick learning for children of age 3 to 5 yrs. For school going children, the library provides a good collection of Enid Blyton Series, Fairy Tales, Detective stories, Mystery stories, Mathmania, Puzzlemania, Adventure stories, Animal stories etc
The Forest Central Library also provides multimedia facilities for children. The interactive CDs provide awareness on all-important activities in day-to-day life.
Library Hours
The library will be kept open from 10:00 a.m. t o 5:00 p.m. on working days.
How to obtain Membership
The library will have the following membership categories.
Forest Officials( Official s in the rank of Forest Rangers and above)
Staff of the Forest Department
Research Scholars
Those who have registered for Ph.D. or those who have undertaken project work.
Students
This category includes college students, school students and children
Public
This will be a category with some restrictions. Only genuine users of the library will be permitted with special permission of the Officer in charge of the library.
Privileges to members
Category.1: Forest Officials
For this category of members no caution deposit or membership fee is required. They have the privilege of getting issued 2 books at a time for a maximum period of 15 days.
Category.2 Staff of the Forest Dept.
This category also doesnot have to pay caution deposit or member ship fee. A member belonging to this category can loan one book at a time for a maximum period of 15 days]
Category 3 & 4: Research Scholars and Students
These categories of members will have to pay caution deposit ofRs.500/- which will be refunded at the time of termination of the membership. In addition an annual membership fee of Rs.50/- will be levied. They can loan one book at a time for a maximum period of 15 days. The application for membership of students and research scholars should be submitted through the Head of the educational institution. The Head of the institution should undertake that a no dues certificate will be obtained from the librarian before issuing final certificate.
Category:5 Public
As this is a category of restricted nature, the amount of caution deposit will be decided on the nature of each case. However, if the membership is of permanent nature they will have to pay Rs, 50/- as annual membership fee. Under normal circumstances no books will be issued to these categories of members. They can use the library only during the library hours.
How to obtain membership
Those who want to be a member of the library should submit a formal application along with two stamp size photographs. The membership form will be supplied free of cost. They will be issued a library identity card. The librarian have the right to reject entry to the library if a member fails to produce the identity card.
Members should keep the library informed in writing any change in their designation or address during the period of membership.
When a member relinquishes his/her charges in Forest Department, he/she should produce Clearance Certificate from the Forest Central Library. The establishment Wing should ensure the non-liability of any Gazetted Officers or Non Gazetted Officers of the Forest Department.
Members should not be allowed to sub-lend the books of the Library
Members must make their own arrangements for the conveyance of books to and from the library.
The Library will ordinarily send reminders to borrowers who retain books beyond the period of loan. Members against whom books are outstanding for more than one month shall not be entitled to borrow books until all books have been returned and all dues have been paid. The retention of a book beyond a period of six weeks from the date of issue may lead to the cancellation of membership.
Library Services
Issue of books to members according to eligibility prescribed in the rules.
Photocopy Service
In addition to providing copies from the books and journals available in the library, efforts will be taken to obtain photocopies from other libraries and information centers on payment basis. Pages from books and journals can also be obtained in form of scanned and saved in floppy discs and CDs.
Bibliography Service from the Tree CD.
Tree CD is an exhaustive listing of Forestry publications from 1930s to the present. Special lists or bibliography can be printed out from the CD upon request.
Multimedia Services
The library had built up a collection of multimedia versions of encyclopedias and other reference books, particularly for young readers. Sufficient number of multimedia PCs will be provided to use multimedia.
For more details please contact:
The Librarian
Forest Central Library
Forest Headquarters
Vazhuthacaud
Thiruvananthapuram-14
Phone: 0471- 2529368
