The Connemara Public Library at Egmore in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is one of the four National Depository Libraries which receive a copy of all books, newspapers and periodicals published in India. Established in 1890, and opened for public in 1896, the library is a repository of century-old publications, wherein lie some of the most respected works and collections in the history of the country. It also serves as a depository library for the United Nations. It is located in the Government Museum Complex on Pantheon Road, Egmore, which also houses the Government Museum and the National Art Gallery.
History
The library's beginnings go back to 1860, when Captain Jesse Mitchell set up a small library as part of the Madras Museum in Madras, capital of the Madras Presidency in the British Indian Empire. Hundreds of books had been found to be surplus in the libraries of Haileybury College (where civil servants of the Indian Civil Service were trained in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire) and these were sent to the Madras Government, which in turn handed them over to the Madras Museum. Conceived on the lines of the British Museum Library, it was part of the Madras Museum until 1890, when the need for a free public library prompted the then Governor of Madras, Lord Connemara, to lay the foundation on 22 March 1890. It opened in 1896 and was named after Lord Connemara (by then the former Governor), an Anglo-Irish nobleman. The library was indeed essentially free: A small deposit had to be paid but this was refundable. It became the state central library in 1948, with the enactment of Madras Public Libraries Act 1948, which was the first concerted effort in India to institutionalise, structure, otherwise co-ordinate and organise public library services. This is one of Asia's largest libraries.
The library was part of a cultural complex that grew in the grounds of what was once called The Pantheon. The entire complex now boasts buildings that reflect architectural unity, even while demonstrating the various stages of Indo-Saracenic development, from Gothic-neo-Byzantine to Rajput Mughal and Southern Hindu Deccani.
The new building, which was added to the library in 1973, has a vast collection of books, a much sought-after textbook section, a periodicals hall, a reference room, a video room, an entire floor for books from the Indian languages, a Braille Library and an IAS study centre. Efforts are on to fully computerise the library database, which could ensure easy access to books. The library has a collection of over 600,000 books.
In 1981 the central government ordered that the library became one of the four national depository libraries. The library, however, is not a registered member of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).
Collections
The library, along with the Madras museum, benefited greatly from the effects of the Madras Literary Society, the Oriental Manuscripts Library and the Records Office. Under the provision of Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act 1954, every publisher in India has to compulsorily send a copy of each publication to the library. Apart from this a good number of publications and periodicals of UN and its specialized organs and Asian Development Bank were also received. Furthermore, several books were added every year by purchasing from the funds made available by the state government budget. The collection includes rare books including a 1608 Bible.
Librarians
S.No.Name Portrait FromToRemarks01Edgar Thurston 1896 1908 02J. R. Henderson 4 December 1908Order no,162, 4 December 1908; Fort St. George Gazette No.50, 15 December 1908, page 1192003F. H. Gravely 1920 February1939 April04 R. Janardhanam 1939 AprilFort St. George Gazette, dated 11 April 1939, page 3931950 First Indian and Trained Librarian05 K. Govinda Menon 1950 195806 K. Rajagopalan 1958196307 V. Thillainayagam 196331 July 1972First Professional Librarian08 A. M. Sundararajan 31 July 1972 09 C. K. Sundarajan 10 A. M. Sundararajan 11 N. Avudaiappan 12 P.A. Naresh 13 Dr Dharma Rajendiran 19 August 20132 February 201414 T Munirathinam 3 February 201430 June 201515 Sa Suganya 1 July 20151 November 201516P. Narayana Bhat 2 November 201530 April 201617 P. Meenakshisundaram 1 May 201630 June 201818 S. Rajani 2 July 201830 June 201919 M. Ganesha 1 July 20191 February 202120 K. Selvakumar 2 February 2021
Gallery
See also
Government Museum, Chennai Anna Centenary Library
References
External links Connemara Public Library