Libraries - world's apart

In India Pradipta Mohanty has started his own library in Barandua so that people can read and borrow books free of charge: 'Human life is precious but people in villages are ignorant and illiterate. Through my library I want to help the villagers gain knowledge and develop their mental faculties,' explained Mohanty.
See this article on Monsters and Critics:
http://tinyurl.com/2r4u9k (url shortened by tiny url)

Contrast this with the attitude in Northamptonshire where Library users are now having to pay for help to find books on the subjects they are interested in, or to find new authors, or for helping their child to read. Whatever happened to the 1964 Libraries Act which set out local authorities duty to provide a free service?
www.northantset.co.uk/news?articleid=2861582