During his school days, K.S. Gopala Krishnan, a long-time resident of Thandurai village in Pattabiram, used to spend most of his time at the government branch library adjacent to the Government High School, after school hours, thumbing through decades-old books.
The 49-year-old-resident is still a regular to this library, which is now located in a space that is his own. The library, which comes under the Tiruvallur District Library Authority, functions at one of his shops on Station Border Road in Vallalar Nagar, Pattabiram.
The library was shifted to this location four years ago, following the demolition of the dilapidated building it functioned from.
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“As a resident and one of the regular visitors to the library, I offered to provide space to the library as a stop-gap measure until the construction of a new building was over. Four years have gone by, but nothing has happened,” says Krishnan, a sixth-generation resident of Thandurai village.
Opened on October 20, 1960 in a thatched-roof building near the government school, the library functioned in the cramped space for many years before the Avadi Municipality decided to construct a new building around two decades ago. Unlike its existing rented space, the old building was found in the centre of the neighbourhood with a bus stand, a high school, a hospital and a market located in the vicinity.
And then, the building began to display the tell-tale signs of poor maintenance: cracks and leaks in the walls. After an inspection by the Public Works Department (PWD), the library building was declared unsafe for visitors and the library was shifted to the present location on Station Border Road.
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For two years following the shifting, this space was offered free. Now, the TiruvallurDistrict Library Authority is paying a monthly rent of ₹3,750 for the space, says Krishnan.
“Space is the major problem for both visitors and the books at the library. As the rush is high during weekends, many visitors sit along the footpath to read books and magazines," says K. Saroja, a resident of Pattabiram.
At present, less than one-third of the total books are kept at the shop-turned-library, with the rest of the collection comprising novels, short stories, poetry, cookery and grammar dumped in a small room on the first floor of the building.
Steel racks, maps, table fans and other items of the library are also kept in the room as the existing library does not have space to accommodate them.
Interestingly, the Tiruvallur District Collectorate sanctioned ₹19. 8 lakh in March 2017 for the construction of a new building on the library’s old premises.
However, the project is held up due to procedural delays. Residents have organised many campaigns including a signature campaign seeking a new building. They also met the Tiruvallur Collector during a quarterly meeting with residents highlighting the need for a new building.