Nothing in life is so bad that something good would not come out of it. That’s a popular saying, which is true in the case of the LLA branch library in Pudu Street, near Aranganathan Subway. Until a few months ago, despite having a massive number of books, this library had very few visitors. The reason was the condition of the building. Paint had chipped off and the furniture was rickety. Then the flood hit the city and the entire facility was washed out. Though over 15,000 books were lost, the library had a new beginning.
It was renovated with swanky new tiles and had a fresh coat of paint. It also received new furniture. As part of this process, a separate section for children was created. As a result of these changes, more people have started visiting it.
“In the last two months, there has been a lot of development at the library. The place is now really inviting,” says A.G. Bakthavatchalam, librarian.
The library came up in the neighbourhood in 1990. Bakthavatchalam took charge nine years later. “When I joined, we had over 100 members. Now, we have over 1,000 and every year we get an additional 50 members,” he says. Bakthavatchalam has been trying to encourage new readers and for this he visits schools in the neighbourhood.
“Most of the people in the area are working professionals, so we don’t get many visitors. On an average, 30 people visit the part-time library,” adds Bakthavatchalam, who is hopeful that in the days to come the library’s patronage would increase further.
“When we got to know how badly affected the library was by the floods, we decided to chip in. There are around five schools in the neighbourhood and we thought they would benefit from a children’s section. We are also planning to conduct reading sessions, storytelling workshops and science and maths programmes once the schools reopen,” says Sandhya Jaichandran of Samskriya Foundation, which set up the children’s section at the library. The NGO has been setting up libraries in Chennai Schools for over three years and promotes Indian content such as Amar Chitra Katha.
R. Saravanan, a resident of Jayaram Street, has been coming to this library for two years. He is happy with the changes at the library. “The facility was closed for a month for renovation. I would come and check every day to see if the work was over. Last week, the library was finally opened. It looks spick and span,” he says, adding that if finance-related magazines and newspapers should be made available.
The infrastructure work was sponsored by All India Bank Employees Association.
“Around 600 children’s literature books in Tamil and English have been donated by the Samskriya Foundation,” says S. Elango Chandra Kumar, District Library Officer.
