Chennai
Anna Centenary Library, the largest in South Asia, constructed at the cost of Rs 122 crore, was inaugurated in 2010 by the late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. But after the AIADMK government came to power, steps were taken to convert it into a hospital. However, persistence and protests by students, aspirants of various competitive exams and other groups led to fruition. The State government finally yielded to public demand and started the membership drive.
The membership drive went on at a brisk rate on Tuesday morning and DMK President MK Stalin was one of the earliest to be enrolled. Stalin, after getting enrolled as a member, said that government should maintain the library as it has a huge repository of study materials for civil service students. He also demanded the government not politicise the issue further.
Patrons of the library had even formed an ‘Occupy Anna Centenary Library’ movement through which they approached the government to improve facilities and open memberships.
One of the coordinators of Occupy Anna Centenary Library, Sibi Kanagaraj, who is a civil service aspirant, told DT Next, “The government changing its stand and commencing the membership is a victory for us and will lead to increased patronage of the library. The place has a huge collection of newly released books and due to membership privilege, students can save time by issuing books.” “The membership drive has commenced briskly and once more number of students get to know about the procedures we expect extra memberships,” an official, attached to Anna Centenary library, said requesting anonymity.
According to Library authorities, membership will be offered under four categories. The subscription includes first time fee and another fee for the year. For individual, the first-time fee is Rs 250 and the annual subscription fee is Rs 100. The members will have exclusive facilities such as taking library books, access to e-library facilities and Wi-Fi facilities, once Wi-Fi facility is set up.
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