It is perhaps the only public library in the country which can boast a genesis linked to a movie. In July 1973, when the Malayalam movie Achani was released, the Kollam-based cashew industrialist K. Raveendranathan Nair who produced it declared that he would donate the entire profits from the venture to the construction of a public library in Kollam.
The movie was a box-office success, and Mr. Nair, who later earned the moniker ‘Achani Ravi,’ kept his word by donating his profit of nearly Rs.15 lakh (a big amount at that time) to the library.
It all began in early 1973 when the idea of a public library for Kollam city germinated in the minds of Mr. Nair, physician T. Kurien, and two journalists M.S. Sreedharan and Devanand. Together, they met the then District Collector M. Joseph, whose response was positive.
Society registered Soon, an ad hoc conference was called by the Collector with all sections of people in Kollam. The discussion largely pertained to getting the government to allocate suitable land in the city to house the library. The meeting adjourned without identifying a property, but succeeded in registering a society, under the Travancore-Cochin Charitable Societies Act, named the Quilon Public Library and Research Centre (QPLRC).
The immediate task of the society was to identify land. Recalls Mr. Nair, “Fortunately at that time, Kollam had two dynamic ministers — T.K. Divakaran and Baby John — in the then C. Achutha Menon Cabinet. The society office-bearers met TK and put forth a suggestion for allocating some land from the Rest House complex at Chinnakada.”
Library complex But the visionary that he was, “TK wanted the society leaders to think out of the box and plan a library that would go beyond mere lending of books and promoting reading.” His idea focussed on a library complex that would serve as a cultural hub to promote fine arts and performing arts. “I will discuss it with comrade Baby John,” he told them.
It was Baby John, Revenue and Excise Minister at that time, who suggested housing the library in the Excise Complex on YMCA Road, its current location. The complex was then a dumping space for material objects seized in connection with various excise-related offences.
But finding a suitable alternative accommodation for the Excise Complex was not an easy task. After a lot of effort, on New Year’s Day in 1975, as much as 2.5 acres of the Excise Complex was formally allocated by the government to the QPLRC. At a function held on April 23 that year, Baby John laid the foundation stone for the library building in the presence of Babu Divakaran.
Even as the construction was on, the QPLRC started functioning from a palm-frond-thatched shed in the compound on February 1, 1976.
Building ready in 1978 The building was ready by November 1978, and on January 2, 1979, the QPLRC was inaugurated at a grand function by the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai, in the presence of the then Governor Jyothi Venkatachalam, Chief Minister P.K. Vasudevan Nair, and Baby John. Unfortunately, T.K. Divakaran had passed away in 1976.
Key resource The QPLRC is today a treasure trove of information for all age groups. With a collection of more than one lakh books, the library is a key resource for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, visitors, and the community at large.
It contains separate research and reference sections, apart from a spacious reading room where all newspapers and magazines are available to readers, irrespective of whether they are members or not. Browsing the shelves of the library for a good read or an answer to a question can turn up unexpected pleasures.
Membership The membership has touched 50,000, and over 10,000 are very active. The QPLRC, which operates as a self-financing institution, is also a University Grants Commission-sanctioned research centre for Malayalam and Islamic history. Its archives contain all copies of The Hindu from 1980, bound and preserved on a monthly basis for reference.
Other institutions of the library include the Sopanam Kala Kendram auditorium, the Saraswathi hall, the Library hall, the Sopanam Kala Kshethram, and a children’s library with a membership of 5,000.
These are managed by a 23-member staff. The complex functions as the cultural hub of the city, hosting film shows, book festivals, performing arts, lectures, exhibitions, plays, and concerts.
Since the library’s inception, Mr. Ravi continues to be unanimously chosen by the 40-member governing body as the honorary secretary. The District Collector is the ex officio chairman. Mr. Ravi enriches the library collection through generous contributions.
Staff members say that taking into consideration the services rendered by the library, the government should support it through some funding.
This article has been corrected for a factual error.
