patna more than a centuryold gait public library and institute in the heart of the city at gardanibagh is forced to lend its premises for marriage tilak birthday and other ceremonies in order to maintain its expenses the situation is such that the management of the library voluntarily runs itwith the help of donations provided by some generous people a library was founded in ranchi in the then undivided bihar in 1916 it was later shifted to patna in 1920 the then governor of bihar sir edward albert gait laid the foundation for gait public library and institute at gardanibagh herethe building was constructed in 1921 at a cost of rs 34000 donated by the people now the library which provides free space for reading lends its premises for various ceremonies to bear the cost of electricity bills sanitation maintenance of the building remuneration of sweeper guard and librarian it is being run under the societies registration act 1860 and the members voluntarily contribute their time to run it smoothlyakhilesh kumar singh secretary of the society said the library has a very large premise which was unused hence the management decided to give it people in need for space for family functions we do not take rent but it is contribution amount that is needed to run the library the minimal charge is rs 25000 which is also negotiable during off season on some occasions we get small grants by the government which is not sufficient the library has several rare collections of books volumes of works on mahatma gandhi several volumes of mahabharata thousands of books on bengali literature and some classic works of arts and printings are among its rare collections there are also many research related books thirty magazines are taken monthly with 13 daily newspapers he saidsingh said around 350450 people come to the library per day mostly students who prepare for competitive examinations there are more than six rooms including some for girls for the readers there is no fee for visitors who want to study sitting at the library from 6am to 7pmthose who want to take books to home have to become a member by paying a nominal charge of rs 200 annually but all cannot become a member only regular visitors who have a keen interest in reading are allowed to become a member there are three categories of members casual general and life member the general members who spend more than 5 to 10 years are given life membership from among them 11 members are selected through voting to become members of the management committee