The Anna Centenary Library (ACL) will provide free access to one and all initially. A formal membership drive will begin after a few months, according to G. Arivoli, Director of Public Libraries.
In the initial months, the library's authorities will study the profile of users before launching the drive. This will be critical for them as the State government has approved in principle the idea of meeting the maintenance expenditure through membership fee, the official says.
As for the facilities at the library, Thangam Thennarasu, School Education Minister, explains that the authorities have decided to adopt an integrated library management system that includes automated issue and return of books, user smartcards, access controls, Radio Frequency Identification and Detection (RFID) technology and self-check counters.
Books in Tamil, English and other languages have been sourced from 1,000 leading publishers.
Over 500 fully networked high performance workstation personal computers and leased-line broadband connectivity of 100 Mbps with dedicated optical fibre cable (OFC) network are other features.
The library has been designed to accommodate 1,250 persons.
An auditorium of 50,000 sq. ft. with a seating capacity of 1,280, an amphitheatre that can accommodate more than 800 persons and two conference halls of the capacity of 151 and 30 persons are some of the facilities available.
A dedicated children's section, spread over 15,000 sq. ft., has a fun-filled theme-based reading area with multimedia kits and storybooks. The library has a high-tech Braille section with talking books and Braille display. Residential facilities for research scholars have been made.
Provision has been made for parking of vehicles. About 420 cars and 1,030 two-wheelers can be parked.
