The library was opened on September 15, 2010 and is one of the Asia's largest libraries.
The parking space is enough, at least for the two-wheeler. Though there are some parking slots for cars in the open, I did not check if there was a basement parking. I suppose it should be there.
There is a statue of Mr. C. N. Annadurai, (CM of TN 1967-1969) in a reading-pose at the entrance to the library.
The security does not allow any kind of bags - including ladies' hand-bags to be carried into the library. Photograph is allowed from outside, but prohibited inside. We got to know that on normal week-days, there are about 1000 visitors per day which may go up to 3000 on week-ends and government holidays.
There is no membership offered now, but the plan is in pipe-line. RFID based inventory management and book-issuance will be put in place shortly. Intra-net access catalog is working and it is expected that in the next one month, catalog will be available in internet too.
The library is fully air-conditioned. It consists of 9 floors. Each floor is divided into two wings (A and B). There are 4 lifts, but only one was operational when we went today. There is an escalator which leads you up from the ground floor to first floor - the space above that is left open to get natural light in all the 9 floors. The library is closely monitored using CCTV cameras - there are ample of them to cover each and every shelf of books in all of these floors!
Ground Floor: Reading Material for differently-abled persons, Reading Materials on Competitive Exams and a small hall where one can bring outside books and read.
1st Floor: Periodicals, Magazines (English, Tamil and a very little Hindi) and Newspapers, Children's section - Play Area and Books
2nd Floor: Tamil - Literature, History, Novel, Religion and Rare Books
3rd Floor: English - Spiritual, Social Sciences, Psychology, Humanities, Foreign Relations
4th Floor: English - Economics, Literature, Novels
5th Floor: English - Science and Mathematics
6th Floor: English - Engineering, Accounting, Management, Arts, Sports, Technology
7th Floor: English - History, Geography
8th Floor: Office Space
The ambiance in the children's section and the collection of books are very good - A must visit for parents if their children are in school. There are even computers with nice games and puzzles loaded in them!
There is an Open Air Theatre and a conference room also with limited seating facility. Visitors can carry their laptops to any of these floors and reading rooms. There are very nice sofas / chairs put on each of those sections - So, it is an enjoyable place to read peacefully. Each section has an entry register in which you need to mark your name and sign before proceeding. I suppose they may use this for statistical purposes. I could see as you go up in the floors the number of entries in a single day kept on reducing. Though, was surprised to find that the number in History/Geography section deviated from this trend towards the higher side.
Some features that can be added are
- Audio and Video Collections
- Presentation Halls and Discussion rooms to be use for small groups
- A full-fledged restaurant (There is one snack-bar kind of store in the ground floor)
- An integrated open park / play area, which may also serve as a kind of talk-place
- A wi-fi internet connection (not sure whether it exists as on date)
Also, found that the rest rooms could be maintained a little better.
