Kalaignar Memorial Library will be boon for many in southern districts

MADURAI: The newly built Kalaignar Memorial Library in Madurai will serve as a boon to people in Madurai and southern districts as well, many who wait in anticipation for the launch feel.

The six-storeyed library, which’s staggeringly modern for its time, is all set for inauguration by Chief Minister MK Stalin on July 15. “The state-of-the-art library built in memory of the late M Karunanidhi at a cost of Rs 218 crore comes up on a spacious 2.13 lakh square,” sources said.

For a devoted library-goer and civil service aspirant from Chittoor village, Virudhunagar district, N Suresh, who travels all the way to Madurai almost five days a week for exam preparation at a free library, said the new library tends to be a bonanza as it will offer a wealth of information.

The 32-year postgraduate, who hails from a family of agriculture labourers, said he cleared prelims twice after accessing the library collections in Madurai for nearly a year and he’s in pursuit of his ultimate goal to excel in the mains.

Now, with this new Kalaignar library coming up in Madurai, would certainly cater to the needs of job aspirants, he told DT Next on Saturday.

A 52-year-old D Murugan, the resident of Ponnagaram, Madurai, who develops reading in the library since his days as a third-standard student, said this memorial library would help him excel in the TNPSC group exam.

According to M Kannan, Librarian, VO Chidambaram College, Thoothukudi, the state’s second-biggest public library next to Chennai, would be a searchable source for not only the people of Madurai but several others from the conglomeration of about hundred to hundred and fifty villages surrounding the city, researches and future generations. This memorial public library would certainly attract users, who could travel by trains from Virudhunagar, Rajapalayam, and Kovilpatti.

Reliable sources said the memorial library would have a staggering collection of over three lakh books with ones, especially for the visually challenged on the ground floor, which also features an art gallery, conference call, and multi-purpose hall. More importantly, the first floor of the library has an exclusive ‘Kalaignar section’, where books penned by former CM Karunanidhi are shelved.

The literary and scholarly contributions of books about Dravidian Movement by the late social reformer ‘Thanthai Periyar’ EV Ramasamy and former CM CN Annadurai are being racked up in the library.

The first floor of the library also features a children’s performance theatre, a Science park, kids theatres, newspapers, and magazines. While the second floor would have all subject books in Tamil language, the third floor would be arranged with books in English. As for the fourth floor, it’ll have a good range of books for competitive exams and an English reference section, and on the fifth floor, which is equipped with audio studios; the users could pick up a collection of rare books and also have access to online content, sources said.