The District Central Library as well as the Uroob Museum that are working out of the Government Lower Primary School building at Kiliyanad may be temporarily shifted to the Kozhikode Corporation’s cultural centre at Anakkulam as the library building is to be reconstructed soon.
The application of the District Library Council for the shifting is under the consideration of the Corporation Council at present. If the Corporation permits, the books, shelves and artefacts in the Uroob museum will be shifted within one week. A. Pradeepkumar, MLA, has sanctioned Rs.1.65 crore for the construction of the new library and museum building and the State housing board has been entrusted with the construction.
The District Central Library was earlier located in a building in the 30 cents of land in Mananchira where the Public Library is located at present. The building was brought down in 1993 to construct the present building which houses the office of the library council. The books in the library were temporarily shifted to Chevayur Driving Ground.
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But once the construction was completed, the library council had legal issues concerning the ownership of the building, as it was the district administration that built the new building. Hence the central library could not be shifted to the building and instead a new public library was set up there. The library council’s claim on the building is a case still pending in the High Court.
The central library was shifted to a government building in Kiliyanad as it was not useful for the public in Chevayur. However, the building is now in a dilapidated condition and hence needed to be reconstructed. The Administrative Committee of the Public Library at Mananchira had earlier denied the request of the library council to shift the central library to the vacant first floor of the Public Library building. Hence the council had to approach the Kozhikode Corporation.