Campaign to save city libraries

Chennai

A campaign called ‘save the library’ has been launched, where books are collected and given  to the public library department. The department then distributes the books to the libraries that lost reading material in the disaster.

The organisers of the #BookBuckectChallenge is now conducting the campaign for raising books that will be given to libraries. “More than five lakh books were destroyed during the flood in Chennai. The idea is to get as many books as possible from the public. Most people have several books at home that they don’t need after reading them once. Through the online campaign, we are urging people to give books for a cause,” says Sujjai G Pillai who started the popular #Bookbucketchallenge. As per the  Book Bucket Challenge, Facebook users were asked to list 10 books that had made the most impact on their lives and forward the challenge by tagging their friends.

The books collected in ‘savethe library’ campaign will be given to District Library Office, Local Library Authority In Anna Salai. S. Elango Chandra Kumar, the District Library Officer, says, “Ashok Nagar was one of the worst affected areas and many  books were destroyed at many public libraries here. We have already donated 10,000 books and this week, we plan to donate another 10,000 books,” he says.

A Facebook page — ‘Save Chennai Libraries’ — has also been created. However, there are libraries who weren’t as badly affected as the ones in Ashok Nagar but still require help with cleaning and restoration work. “The Madras Literary Society, which is one of the oldest libraries in the city, wasn’t as badly affected but we still need volunteers to clean-up the premises,” says a representative from the library.

COLLECTION POINTS IN TAMIL NADU

Pondicherry - Contact Person: Sundaravaradan, Number: 9443084954. Karunakaran, Number: 9442243377
Trichy - Contact person: Tamizhathan, Number: 9788995579
Trichy - Manarkeni Book Shop, Contact Person: Ramasamy, Number: 8124884494
Salem -  Palam Book Shop, Contact Person:  Sahas, Number: 9443222007. Contact Person: K R Lawrence, Number: 9443240343.
Villupuram - Bodhi IAS Academy, Contact Person:  Ravikarthikeyan, Number:  9486841221.

Those who wish to donate books, can send it to
District Library Office , Local Library Authority 735, Anna Salai, Chennai-02